At Home Care

A live-in carer lives with you, in your home and has two main roles. Firstly to look after you and secondly to help look after your home. A carer will normally stay for between four and eight weeks and then hand-over to new carer. Many carers return to the same clients providing continuity of care and a familiar, friendly face.

Having someone you don't know suddenly live in your house is very strange for the first few days. However things usually settle into a routine and clients and carers get to know and trust each other pretty quickly. Most people find that the benefits and re-assurance of having a live-in carer improve their lives significantly.

But with so much initial change it's easy to forget that it's all new for the carer too. When a carer starts a new placement they need to get to know you, your family, your house, your routine and the local area.

If client and carer help each other settle into the new routine it makes a big difference. In the unlikely event that a client doesnn't on gel with their carer, let us know and we will arrange for replacemt carer to be put in place.

 It is important for a carer to have a break during the day in order to ensure that they can do their job to the best of their ability without getting too tired. 

Every live-in carer should have two hours off a day at a mutually convenient time and in daylight hours (please remember that doing the shopping or running errands do not qualify as time off !)Most clients are happy to be left during this period but if not, or if there is a high level of risk in leaving them, then additional cover may need to be arranged with either a family member or a local domiciliary care agency to cover the 2 hours.

 Part of a live-in carer's role is to keep your house clean and tidy. This includes light household duties such as clearing up after meals, washing up, dusting, vacuuming, making beds, laundry washing and ironing.

However, they are not professional cleaners so please don't ask them to do major jobs such as spring-cleans, clean carpets etc.

One of the luxuries of live-in care is having all your meals prepared for you. Your carer will prepare all your meals and will adapt their cooking to any dietary requirements you may have and wherever possible strive to prepare meals that you enjoy and that are nutritious. As well as preparing breakfast, lunch and supper carers will also prepare snacks and drinks during the day depending on your habits and likes.

Remember carers aren't caterers though and although they will usually be happy to cook extra portions if you have friends or family staying they should not be expected to cook for extra people on a regular basis or to dinner party standards!

If you have a lot of people staying, maybe over holidays such as Christmas, it's a good idea to ask everyone to help out with preparing meals and clearing away so your carers workload is not over-stretched.

A carer will also usually eat their meals with you and they are not expected to pay for their own meals unless they have very specific dietary requirements

A carer will, if required, do the grocery shopping. Clients usually provide a 'housekeeping float' for this and records are kept in the At Home Care logbook with receipts filed in the contact book.

All a carer's general shopping will be included on the client's shopping and at the client's cost ie. food, cleaning products etc. Any individual luxury items that a carer requires will be at the carer's cost.If it is difficult for a carer to do the shopping, perhaps if a client cannot be left on their own/or be taken shopping, then a good alternative is to order the grocery shopping online which can be done at all major retailers ie. Tesco, Waitrose etc.

ach client is assigned a carer based on his or her personal care needs. This can range from just wanting someone around for general help and companionship to needing assistance with mobility, dressing, washing, going to the loo, getting up in the morning and going to bed in the evening.

We can cater for a wide variety of conditions including Dementia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS, strokes,  impaired mobility issues.

Carers can help clients remember when to take any medication. Under current guidelines carers' can only prompt and remind to take medication. Please never ask a carer to administer medication. Although some carers may have nursing backgrounds a carer can never act as a qualified nurse.

Current good practice also states that care assistants should not be asked to fill a client's dosset box. If the client is unable to do so a pharmacist, GP or family member should carry out the task.

f you have a fall the first thing a carer will do is check for any signs of injury. If you are injured or if you cannot get up without assistance the carer will always call the paramedics. Carers can never lift you as they must not put you or themselves at risk of injury.

None of us function well if we don't get a good nights sleep. Carers need 8 hours-uninterrupted sleep at night. However, a carer will expect there to be the odd occasion when a client needs to get them up at night - this is part of the job and there is no additional charge for this.

However, if a carer needs to regularly got up at night (ie. more than 3 x a week) they will be entitled to charge £9 per night call (up to a maximum of £18 per night). The night call charge can also apply for occasional night calls that last longer than 15 minutes.If a client needs assistance several times during the night, every night then an additional night carer should be considered.

We know that the first couple of weeks are often a period of adjustment and we expect and make allowance for more night call during this period.

Each carer that you have will stay with you for a pre-agreed number of weeks and then swap over with a replacement carer. Normally there will be a hand-over period of a couple of hours when both carers will be at your home ensuring the new carer is fully up to speed with your routine.

Sometimes overnight hand-overs are arranged where the in-coming carer overlaps with the current carer over a full evening (where spare bedrooms are available). These give the client a chance to get to know a new carer before their current carer leaves, they also allow for a full and detailed hand-over and avoid any problems with public transport travel delays carers may experience. There are no additional costs for overnight hand-overs.

Carers will liaise with each other and with the At Home Care office to make all hand-overs as smooth as possible. Carers and clients often develop good relationships and clients often ask to have the same carers return and we will always be happy to try and arrange this is you let us know.

Yes. There are many reasons why couples choose live-in care, but perhaps the most important reason is because it enables you and your partner to stay together in your own home.

We understand that someone new living in your home can be daunting, especially if it’s just been the two of you for a long time. That’s why our compassionate and professional teams will work with you to establish the exact level of support you need so that your care is both effective and unintrusive.

A cost-effective solution to care - live in care is always less expensive for a couple than movingb into a care home

 carer will need a warm, comfortable bedroom in your home. This is not just a place for them to sleep but also a bit of private space to relax in during their time off. A carer's room will need a bed, chest of draws, comfortable chair and heating.

Carers will not use your telephone for outgoing calls unless you request that they do or there is an emergency. However, the carer's family and the At Home Care office may call them from time to time on your phone (at no cost to you). 

It is essential that carer have access to WiFi

A Contact Book will be kept at your home. This will include your care plan and important contact names, numbers and addresses. There will also be a Logbook where carers will keep a daily log and keep track of all household expenditure. Both books are available for carers and clients to view at any time.

A medication sheet is also kept which records all daily medications

If a carer should become ill or unable to work whilst on a placement we will to replace them as quickly as possible.

To ensure the best care and continuity of care we book carers well in advance of placements. Because of this we have to work to notice periods to ensure that carers are not left 'out of pocket' for late cancellations. 

We normally operate a 3 week notice period. Please see the contract for full details on notice periods.

Day-to-day life is unpredictable and both client and carers need to be flexible from time to time. If you feel something isn't working properly then the first thing to do is talk to your carer to see if it can be easily resolved between the two of you. Usually there is a simple solution if both parties are prepared to be a little flexible and normally everyday problems can be resolved this way.

However, if this doesn't work the At Home Care office is always available to help resolve any problems that may arise. Simply call, email or text us.We also have a complaints procedure in place for more serious problems. Details and forms are carried in the Contact Book.

In general live-in care costs much less than most other forms of full-time care such as care in a residential care home. But we do understand that when you are paying large sums of money every week live-in care seems hugely expensive.

However, for the carer it is not a lot of money to earn given the hours that a carer is 'on call' and carers earn less than the average UK wage.We aim to keep our agency fees as low as possible and work hard behind the scenes. We have the everyday costs of running a business including advertising and marketing costs and a great deal of time also goes into finding and recruiting carers, running police checks and references and client/carer on-going communication.We strive to make live-in care at home as affordable as possible and believe we provide some of the best possible quality of care at the best value for money. We would encourage you to look at other live in care agencies to compare both our service and our costs.

At Home Care  from £895.00 per week

Yes, many of our customers use support from their local authority in the form of direct payments. To claim from your local council, start by arranging a care needs assessment with them. In England, if one has less than £23,250  (that’s not including one's home ) you’ll be eligible for government support.