Finding out what good home care looks like can help you to make choices about your care. It can also help you to understand what you should expect from a home care service.
Home care agencies should work towards answering the following 5 key questions:
- Are we safe?
- Are we effective?
- Are we responsive to people’s needs?
- Are we caring?
- Are we well-led?
These 5 questions are what drives a home care service to a commitment of continuous improvement and development. However, sadly this is not always the case and we regularly hear feedback from potential clients and their families who contact us for support, that the care they are receiving from their current care provider is not what they would have expected. The most common feedback is:
- Staff turn up late to home care visits
- Staff do not stay for the allocated time
- Clients feel rushed by staff
- Poor communication between the home care provider and clients
- Clients do not feel as though they are involved in their care
The above are just a few examples of where care services let down their clients and their families. Most often – in our opinion – it comes down to one main factor: home care agencies over-stretch themselves and that in turn impacts on customer service.
Let’s ask the question again. What does good care look like? We believe it starts with the care provider setting out realistic proposals to meet expectation of the client (for instance, what they can provide and how they ensure customer service remains a priority).
As a home care service in Derby, Independent Living strive to ensure that our clients are treated with the upmost respect and dignity at all times. There is a huge amount of trust placed with us and it is our responsibility to ensure that the trust is not misplaced. It is for this reason that we offer a visit of 1 hour as a minimum to allow for daily changes in our clients needs or abilities. We understand that no two days are the same and that your needs may vary – so when we say we will be with you for 1 hour, we mean it. If time remains after all care activities are completed, we will use that time to build our relationships with our clients further. Sometimes a simple cup of tea and chat go much further than anything else we can offer.
Independent Living is extremely proud of the work we do and the services we provide to our clients. We do not accept any shortcomings or poor customer service and actively encourage feedback from our existing clients on a regular basis. We are here for you.
To find out more about how we could support you or a family member, contact our friendly team on 01332 799292 or alternatively visit our website at https://www.independentliving-care.co.uk/
