How Do I Arrange Home Care?

Finding daily tasks at home challenging but not ready to move into a care home? Home care where trained carers visit you in your own home to provide care support could be the right option for you!

This article outlines the 5 key stages of arranging home care to help point you in the right direction.

5 Stages of Arranging Home Care

1. Shortlist Services

A great place to start when looking for home care is to research suitable care providers near you. We understand that beginning your search for care can be incredibly daunting so we have put together some suggestions to point you in the right direction during the research stage:

• Liaise with your local council and ask whether they are able to share information on suitable services in your area
• Contact TrustedCare.co.uk (that's us!) who offer a free care locating service for care seekers. Tel: 01865  638 018
• Search the NHS website for home care providers in your area
• Check out the Care Quality Commission (CQC) website where you can view inspection reports on all registered home care providers.
• Ask the United Kingdom Homecare Association (UKHCA) for a list of approved home care providers in your area

2. Call and Discuss Care Requirements With Manager

Once you have a shortlist of potential home care providers/private carers, we recommend that you contact them to ask any questions you may have. Key things we recommend that you discuss before deciding upon a home care provider include:

• Whether they have the capacity to take on new clients
• Whether they can facilitate the frequency & length of visits you require
• Whether they can support your individual care needs
• What the care provider's costs are (Find out more about home care costs)
• Whether they can support the consistency of care required i.e. known Carer's & timings of visits

3. Arrange a Face-to-Face Consultation/Assessment

Once you have shortlisted the care providers you are interested in, the next step is to arrange a face-face meeting with the Care Manager of each service. This will involve the Care Manager visiting you in your own home to meet you as well as any family members you would like present. The purpose of the visit will be to carry out a risk assessment of your home to ensure that it is a safe environment for Carers to support your care, and to discuss the individuals care requirements in more depth.

The consultation provides an opportunity for you to find out more about the home care provider, and for them to thoroughly understand your needs & what you are looking for.

Off the back of your meeting with a care provider, they will be able to put together a personalised care plan for you or your loved one which will be explained more in the next step!

4. Care Plan Created

Following a face to face consultation with the Care Manager of a home care service, they will use their knowledge of your care needs & wishes to put together a tailored Care Plan for you or your loved one.

A Care Plan will include details of your care needs such as any medication you're taking, your mobility and any routines the individual has. The Care Plan will be consistently monitored and updated should the individual needs of a person change.

The home care company will match you or your relative with a Carer/s who they believe will be able to best support your needs.

5. Visits Commence!

Once a Care Plan has been created & a commence date has been agreed with all involved, visits can begin! If you find that you're not getting on with any aspect of the care whether that be the frequency of visits or the level of support being provided, the home care company will work with you to make any adjustments to your Care Plan to ensure that you are happy & receiving the best care possible.

If you have any questions about arranging home care, please do get in contact with our Care Advisers for free help & advice.