Home care
What is home care?
Home care is sometimes called domiciliary care or home help. It is when care workers visit people in their own homes to give them help and support. Care workers can help with your personal care needs, such as washing and getting dressed, and practical tasks such as preparing simple snacks or frozen meals. We do not usually provide cleaning.
At first, we may offer what we call a rehabilitation service, this means that we work with you for a short time, to give you the confidence and skills to live independently in your own home. So you may receive help at first, which may not carry on long term.
Who can receive this service?
You must be
- over 18, and
- have had an assessment carried out by us, which showed that you need help.
To find out more about the assessment process click here
One of our assessors will visit you, to talk about what you need. After they have talked to you and anyone else involved, we will be able to decide if we can offer you support. We can only help people who are most in need.
If the assessment shows that you do not qualify for this help, we will give you a list of independent agencies or voluntary organisations, who also provide practical care in people's homes. All these agencies will meet our quality standards, you will then be able to contact them directly if you wish.
Is there a charge?
If it is decided that you will be receiving care at home, you may need to pay something towards the cost of it. The cost will be worked out on what you can afford to pay. But we will tell you more about this when we speak to you.
What can home care do for you?
Home care aims to provide support to enable people to maintain a good quality of life within the community. From talking to people who need services it is clear that most people would rather stay at home.
There is a risk that some people may become isolated from others, which can lead to feeling depressed. Home care therefore aims to help people learn skills to help them cope or regain skills that they have lost over time. By becoming skilled people can become more independent and lead a full life as possible. Home care is not simply about providing care services, but also supporting you to do things for yourself.
We are also working to "personalise" home care, which is the direction that recommended by the guidance published in "Putting People First". This means that your home care package will be designed with your full consultatation and that the tasks that are to be undertaken will be done in a way that helps you achieve what you want in life.
It also means that there are now alternatives available to simply receiving care from one of the city council's contracted providers. Through a personal budget it may be possible for you to use the money to purchase care from who ever you choose, be that a private care agency or personal assistant.
Details of the different types of personal budget can be seen by following this link:
http://www.stoke.gov.uk/ccm/content/social-care/adult-social-care/what-is-a-personal-budget.en
Who provides my care?
We as a city council currently have contracts with different care providers who deliver care on behalf of us to the people of Stoke-on-Trent. Certain providers deliver to specified neighbourhood areas, in order to bring travel time for staff and to tackle some of the causes of the late calls. This helps care agencies structure area based staff teams, so that it is more likely that people receiving care will be able to get to know those who deliver their care.
The companies who provide care for the city council are subject to rigorous checks before they are awarded a contract for the city council. This involves the companies being required to demonstrate their track records, show good value for money, present good references and show that they are financially stable. We ask for full lists of the staff training regimes, past compliments, evidence of how they have grown and improved their practices and their intentions for the future.
The contract we hold with them clearly outlines the expectations we have and there are formal processes we can undertake should there be any problems with the quality of the service received by a customer.
If you would like to speak to someone about having an assessment please call free phone 0800 561 0015 where you can speak to a contact centre advisor who can help and advise.
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