Frequently Asked Questions
What is live-in care?
Live in care is when a care assistant moves into your home and helps you with everyday life including nursing and domestic tasks. Live in care is fast becoming a popular alternative to living in a nursing home or warden controlled environment.
What do I need to provide for the carer?
The carer will need their own room, bed and linen and somewhere to keep their clothes. They will also need to be able to bathe, cook and feed themselves using your facilities.
Can my live in carer take me out to appointments and social events?
Absolutely! Most of our live in carers can drive and welcome the opportunity to accompany you on days out, social events or help you to an appointment.
Do you employ your carers?
Yes, we do and we have a thorough recruitment and training programme in place.
Do you have foreign carers?
Like most home care companies we employee foreign carers and numbers have increased over recent years. The reason for this is because there is a shortage of qualified British carers who are looking to undertake a dedicated career in caring. Many people immediately think that a carer from outside of the UK is less desirable than a British resident and we understand why you might think this. You might worry that they won’t be correctly trained, there might be language barriers or they won’t understand our British customs and ways. Over the years, our experience of employing foreign carers has shown us that, in reality, our foreign team members are a great asset to our team.
Many of our carers come from Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Hungary. In these countries students have to go through many years of studying and training to earn their care and nursing qualifications. It is not an easy option. Those that take this career path want to pursue a career in caring but they then struggle to find a job in their own country. Here in Britain we have a shortage of carers and so job migration has occurred naturally.
Those that come to work for us are more than qualified for the job; some even over qualified and trained to be Doctors and Paramedics in their own country. We ensure that everyone undergoes a rigorous training programme when they first arrive here and this includes courses from our in-house training team on such elements as cooking, local customs and our way of doing the work (moving & handling, medication management, food hygiene, etc). They then must pass a language test and be approved to work in the field by one of our senior managers following an evaluation day at the end of their initial training. Most speak excellent English before they arrive in the UK, but for those that need some help we have the Cleeve Hill Healthcare language school for some intensive tuition. And the English customs and ways are quickly picked up. Infact, some of our clients tell us that they love to chat with their carer about their local customs.
The strongest evidence for us is when a client quickly forms a strong bond with his or her carer. It has happened time and again. If you are still unsure, please don’t hesitate to talk your concerns through with us.
What if I don’t like my carer?
We make every effort to place a carer to a client who we think will be a good match in both personality and skills. We have regular contact with both the client and the carer so should any problems arise we are on hand to rectify it straight away. If a solution cannot be reached we would organise for a different carer to live with you.
How are days off, holiday and sickness covered?
In most cases, a dedicated carer will provide the service for up to 6 days a week with a relief carer coming in to cover for days off, holidays and any periods of sickness. Where high levels of personal care need to be provided, it may be that one carer will stay for four days and a second carer will work the other three days of each week. The main carers would need to have a longer period of leave every 6 weeks when he or she would be away for a short period and then would return for another 6 weeks; helping to ensure as little disruption to routine as possible.
My question has not been answered
If you have a question that has not been answered above please don’t hesitate to call us or email your question to info@livein24.co.uk
