How to choose the right homecare service for you

Deciding whether to receive care and support at home can seem like a daunting task. With so many different types of care, so many providers and dozens of boxes to tick, it can be a long and confusing process – especially at such an emotional and difficult time.

To help get you head around this, we’ve shared a five-step guide to help you navigate through the process and choose the best care option for you or your loved one.

Step One – What care do you need?

Firstly, think about what your needs are:

Do you need around the clock care? Would a visit each morning to help get you ready for the day be sufficient? Do you need medical assistance during the day?

Once you understand what your needs are, you can then establish what care service will best to support you. This could be one of, but not limited to, the following:

Domiciliary Home Care – support you with day-today tasks at your home or even just to offer companionship.

Live in Care -  enables you to remain in your own home whilst receiving care 24/7.

Respite Care – help you recover from an operation, a short-term period of bad health or to provide temporary replacement care.

Dementia Care – specialist care for those suffering with Alzheimer’s, Dementia, Parkinson’s, Lewy Bodies etc.

Step Two – Contact your local authority for help

Now you have a rough idea about what care you would like to receive and what your needs are, now is the time to contact your local authority. Explain to them what your needs are and what care you believe best matches these. They will then be able to tell you what support they can provide and, if you decide not to choose the support they can provide, they are able to outline what it is you should look for in a care provider. They can also let you know what financial assistance is available.

Step Three – Create a short list of potential homecare providers

If you choose to look for a homecare provider yourself and feel like you have a better understanding of what to look for in a homecare provider, you can begin to contact these providers.

There are numerous directories online such as www.homecare.co.uk which list the homecare providers in your local area along with their contact details and the type of service they offer. After contacting a few of these, you should create a shortlist of those that best suits your needs. We recommend asking each one some of the following questions to help establish a further understanding of what you can expect from the provider. These include:

• Do I need to sign a contract?
• Is there a minimum number of hours that I need to commit to?
• Can you engage with the care agency for a trial period to see how things work out?
• Will you have the same carer(s) and do they live nearby?
• Can you meet the proposed carer(s) before committing to the care agencies?
• How does the agency determine who the right carer for you is?
• How often will the agency speak to you about the suitability of the carer and whether they are meeting your needs?
• Will the carers have direct access to my house?

Step Four – Calculate the cost

After you have gathered information from a few providers and the financial assistance available from the local authority, you can calculate how much your new care service is roughly going to cost you.

This is an important step so that you ensure you are able to fund the provider you desire and can match the service with your needs effectively.

Step Five – Make a decision

Now you have all of the information you require, you can consider making your decision on which care provider to choose.

To do this, you may wish to contact a couple of them again and ask some of the key questions from step three if haven’t done so already and any further queries you may have. This will help give you piece of mind that you are making the right decision.

If you would like to find out more about the homecare service Kare Plus Redbridge provides, call us on 0207 1480656 or email [email protected].