How to Choose a Home Care Agency in Bath & Wiltshire: 7 Questions to Ask
When choosing a home care provider, you need the confidence that they will meet your needs, and the reassurance that you will be comfortable welcoming them into your home.
With so many home care agencies across Bath and Wiltshire, how can you be sure that you have found the right one?
Here are 7 key questions to ask home care services in Wiltshire and B&NES:
Do you have an independently-assessed track record of delivering safe and high-quality care?
Most of us wouldn’t feel comfortable accepting treatment from an unregulated doctor, so why risk your own safety and wellbeing by appointing an unregulated care provider? Your safety must come first.
Choosing a care provider is about more than confirming that they operate home care services in your Bath or Wiltshire postcode area.
For the assurance that your chosen Wiltshire or Bath care provider has been assessed as delivering safe and high-quality care, look to industry regulators the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC regularly and routinely assess and rate all regulated home care providers to ensure that they are safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
Visit the CQC website to read the latest report and rating for any care providers you are considering.
What do customers say about your home care services?
Independent customer reviews provide a valuable insight into the experiences other people have had with a home care agency. Whilst it’s good to look up a range of reviews from different sources, the most reliable tend to be those shared to verified reviews platforms, such as homecare.co.uk.
All regulated home care providers across Bath, Wiltshire and the whole of the UK have a profile on homecare.co.uk, where you can read customer reviews for the services they provide. Reviews are independently verified by homecare.co.uk before being published, to ensure that they are written by genuine home care customers, and the families of those receiving support.
How will you understand the care that I need?
Effective home care services across Bath and beyond will ensure that the care you receive is person-led; that is, tailored to your unique support requirements, preferences and circumstances. You should never feel like you are receiving an ‘off the shelf’ service.
Home care agencies should make the effort to fully understand your needs via a care assessment. This is where you will sit down with a member of the care team to discuss the type, level and frequency of support you need, and how and when the care agency will be able to assist. Your family members can be part of this conversation if you wish.
Perhaps your care needs are short-term, to support while a family member is on holiday, or to help aid your recovery from illness or injury. Or, you might be looking for regular support visits to enable you to continue to live safely in your own home.
Equally, you might simply be looking for a little domestic support and help around the house – home care services would still apply.
The home care agency will discuss all of this with you, and come up with a plan for how they may be able to help.
Who will visit me to deliver care at home? Are they well-trained and reliable?
You need to be able to trust that the people delivering your care at home have the knowledge, skills and expertise to act in your best interest – not just know the Wiltshire and B&NES area well enough to find your address.
For your own peace of mind, choose a home care agency that invests in ongoing training for their carers, has shown diligence in carrying out background checks, and has policies and procedures in place to ensure that the care you receive is delivered by qualified, professional carers who are equipped with the skills and knowledge to deliver the care you need, in your own home.
Also ask about consistency – will the same carers visit you regularly so that they can get to know you well and become familiar, friendly faces? Or are you likely to open the door to someone new from the home care agency for each visit?
A good provider of home care services in Bath and Wiltshire should be able to reassure you of a consistent, well-qualified and reliable care team who can support your needs at home.
Can you provide overnight support?
It is not unusual to need a little support to ensure your safety and wellbeing overnight. If this applies to you, be sure to ask the provider what overnight home care services they can provide.
This tailored support might include a sleeping or waking nights service, to include assistance with nighttime toileting needs, support to reduce the risk of falls, or simply provide the reassurance that help is at hand should you need it.
Be sure to consider all of the options that could meet your needs, and raise any questions you may have, during your care assessment with the home care agency.
Can you support me if I live in a retirement living setting or Extra Care Housing scheme?
Don’t assume that you can only receive home care services if you live in your own home – home care agencies across Wiltshire and B&NES can also support you if call retirement living accommodation or an Extra Care Housing setting ‘home’.
Care at home should be designed to reflect you and your needs, so provided the home care agency operates in your local area, the place you call home is irrelevant.
Regardless of whether you live in a retirement living or Extra Care Housing setting, or the family home you have lived in for decades, home care services could include:
- Help around the home – grocery shopping, meal preparation, domestic support
- Personal care – including respectful washing and dressing
- Support with medication
- Companionship visits
- Assistance to attend appointments
- Overnight support
- Respite for family carers
- Urgent support in an emergency
What happens in an emergency?
Life doesn’t always go to plan. One of the benefits of choosing a larger, regulated care provider is that they often have the flexibility to step in at short notice to ensure that you will receive the high-quality care you need, quickly.
Ask your Bath or Wiltshire home care services provider what they would do if your usual family carer is unwell, you need some additional support at home to prevent a hospital admission, or you need short-term care at home as a stop gap before entering full-time care.
Also be sure to check that you would still receive reliability and continuity of care, if your usual carer from their team became unwell, went on holiday or was unavailable.
The home care provider should hold your care records centrally and securely, meaning that, if an alternative member of the care team is called upon to support you, they will have access to information they need to keep you safe and well-cared-for at home.
Supporting you to thrive, with care at home in Bath and Wiltshire
Part of the wider not-for-profit Somerset Care Group, our well-established home care teams across Wiltshire and B&NES are here to support you to thrive in your own home.
Contact our helpful and knowledgeable care advisors on 0808 1680 451, to discover how we build our home care services around you.
Need to talk the options through?
Our aim is to make what can be an overwhelming and emotional journey as reassuring and straightforward as possible. Please contact our friendly Enquiries Team for expert care advice and to explore the support options available for you and your loved one.
