Frequently Asked Questions

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.

Let us explain more

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 – 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.