Home Care Guide
Christopher Downie
How do you talk to parents about care at home?

How do I talk to a love on about their health? - CareChooser Home Care Guide - 2020

How do you talk to parents about care at home?

live in care

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Home Care - Which fall alarm should I buy?

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Home Care Questions - Other Episodes:

Length - Short (2 mins) 

Call centre fall alarms

When triggered by an elderly relative, call centre fall alarms will automatically dial into the call centre who will deal with the fall.

Check their process and how it is they will deal with a fall.

These will usually be paid monthly subscriptions to the access the service plus an initial one off cost. 

Here's a short list of options for fall alarms (we're not paid or sponsored by these links) 

Age UK - £69 one-off payment. £45 quarterly. 

Saga - No start up cost and £19.14 monthly.

Indeme - 50% off 1st 3 months at £8.40per month and then £16.80 monthly.

SureSafe - £14.99 per month with 1st month free. 

 

📞 0208 886 0686 

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Parkinson's

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Our carers have experience working and supporting people living with Parkinson's disease at home. Our home carers have the expertise to adapt to the condition's changing nature. Read our short Parkinson's guide below and look out for the section at the bottom about how to adapt your home for Parkinson's and do contact us on 0208 886 0686 if we can help in anyway. 

 

Outline

Parkinson's disease is condition that physically affects and damages the brain. It is a progressive disease, which means it will gradually get worse over time.

Parkinson's is a rarer form of dementia, It is caused when nerve cells are lost in the substantia nigra area of the brain, this is towards the lower middle of the brain. 

People living with Parkinson's don't have enough of the chemical dopamine because the cells that are lost produce it. 

Dopamine is the chemical that enables messages to be sent to the parts of the brain that manage movement. 

Around 1 in 500 people are estimated to be affected by Parkinson's. 

Symptoms

  • There are many different symptoms related to Parkinson's disease. The main symptoms are shaking of parts of the body, known as tremors as well as having stiff muscles and a reduced speed of movement.

Other Physical symptoms related to Parkinson's disease include: Pain

  • Bladder and bowel problems

  • Muscle cramps

  • Foot problems

  • Skin problems

  • Sweating

  • Eye problems

  • Low blood pressure

  • Sleep difficulties

  • Dizziness

  • Fatigue/tiredness

  • Falls

  • Speech and communication difficulties

  • Dental problems

  • Eating and swallowing

  • Control of saliva

  • loss of smell

Other symptoms include:

  • Depression

  • Hallucinations

  • Delusions

  • Anxiety

  • Memory difficulties

  • Difficulties with thinking

 

Care

There isn't currently a cure for Parkinson's disease. There are however treatments and therapies available which can help with the symptoms and help a person living with Parkinson's to live well which include:

  • Physiotherapy

  • Dietary therapy

  • Speech and Language therapy

  • Occupational therapy

  • Medication

There are alternative therapies that people with Parkinson's use such as art therapy, acupuncture and many others.

You should take medical advice from your GP before beginning any therapies, medications or alternative therapies. Below is a short guide on how to adapt to your home to live well with Parkinson's. 

How to Adapt Your Home For Parkinson's 

When seeking to adapt your home for living with Parkinson's or in preparation for the onset of Parkinson's a good step is a visit from an Occupational Therapist who can provide expert advice about modifications to the home and equipment. Occupational Therapist visits are free of charge via the NHS.

The Parkinson's Disease Foundation and AgingCare.com recommend the following adjustments, modifications and equipment when caring for those living with Parkinson's. 

General

  • - Kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and stairs are main areas of concern

  • - Arrange furniture to allow space for comfortable standing, sitting and turning

  • - Handrails on both sides of staircase

  • - Mark the first/last steps in white in some way for easy recognition

  • - Remove or secure loose rugs

  • - Carpet - more difficult to navigate with walkers, lifts, canes and wheelchairs and wear more but vinyl and tiles can be slippery and harder if a person falls. Low-pile carpet makes it less likely to get feet stuck in.

  • - Consider cleaning bare flooring with non-skid floor wax.

  • - Door widening hinges can widen doors by around 2 inches

  • - Make sure lamps, as well as table lamps are placed so that they cannot be easily tipped over

  • - Objects like floor vases, other objects and side tables are easy to navigate around - where possible remove them or ensure they are placed well out of the way of main walkways

  • - Cover sharp edges of countertops and other sharp surfaces with cushioning

  • - Keep everything that is needed within easy, remove things that are out of reach.

  • - Replace buttons, zips and laces with Velcro

  • Kitchen

  • - Chopping, sautéing and mixing can be difficult - set up ingredients and kitchen tools in a place where you can sit to prepare food

  • - Use plastic mixing bowls to avoid breaks

  • - Extra tea-towels to clean up any spill

Gadgets

  • - Hot Hand® Protector glove

  • - Jar Opener

  • - ULU knife

  • - Battery/electric operated can openers, peelers, scissors

  • - Adaptive handles for toothbrushes, hairbrushes, and combs

  • - Special cups and glasses that make them easier to hang on to.

Bedroom

  • - Lower floors (to avoid stairs)

  • - Rails on side of bed to help with getting in and out

  • - Bed pull-up

  • - Satin sheets or pyjamas - helpful for turning over and sliding into different positions.

Bathroom

  • - Anti-slip/skid socks rather than slippers

  • - Bathroom transfer bench - sit down and swing or pull your legs over the side of bath or shower.

  • - Shower chair or plastic garden chair and grip bars on the walls

  • - Rubber non-slippery bath/shower mats

Later stages of Parkinson's

  • - Paint, tape or label taps red or blue to designate hot and cold

  • - Remove locks on bathroom doors

  • - Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters - shuts off electricity when it detects current going through a person or water.

  • - Parkinson's friendly doorknobs

Minor adaptations to the home of up to £1000 are not means tested and can be obtained from the local council. They can also provide any disability equipment too free of charge. Major adaptations up to £30k are means tested.

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Home Care - What is a Local Care Expert?

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The best of online with Local Care Experts on your doorstep.

We're online. We have online home carer profiles and the care is tracked online in (near) real-time! It's practically instant! 

However we also offer the personalised home care service that our clients want and love. We come and meet you and your loved ones in person. A Local Care Expert in your area. 

We're hybrid offline-online, similar to Purple Bricks and Yopa. It's far easier to use than the broken agency model and you'll get the personalised service that isn't available with online agencies. 

So how does it work? 

Request a call back with your Local Care Expert who will then schedule a face-to-face consultation. We'll then visit again and introduce you to 1 or 2 carers that will consistently care for your loved ones. 

We already have dedicated Local Care Experts for London and for Haringey.  

We'd love to know what you think, if you have any ideas for us, do send us a message at hello@carechooser.com or pop us over a message on Facebook.  

If you think you'd make a GREAT Local Care Expert, be great at meeting our home care clients face-to-face, listening to their ideas, concerns and expectations and offering them local knowledge on the services and support available in your local area. We'd love to hear from you, get in touch with us at hello@carechooser.com or get in touch here. 

You'll need to fit into out trusting culture, be genuinely warm and caring and want to make a difference in your local area. 

Home Care Questions - Other Episodes:

CareChooser

Download our brochure below: 

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Home Care - How do the carer profiles work?

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Our carer profiles can be viewed online before you book, they give you a chance to understand a little more about the carer.

What do the symbols mean? Here we break down our profiles for you. 

We keep our profiles as up-to-date as possible, its worth double checking the status of the carer. Should you be interested in on of our carers there is a button below the profile where you can send a message to the carer.  Our telephone number is also below the profiles, so you can contact our expert care advisors to chat about a carer you are interested in or you can use the call back form and one of advisors will get back to you as soon as possible. Another alternative is the live chat at the bottom of the page, we're pretty responsive on there!! 

What do the carer profile symbols mean? 

These three symbols tell you which type of care the carer specialises in, home care, 24 hour live in care or night care. Some carers may be available for more than one type of care. 

DBS.png

This is the UK government's Disclose and Barring Service logo, formerly known as CRB  (Criminal Record Bureau check). Underneath this we update the status of the check; 'Checked & Approved' or 'Not Yet Checked & Approved' if we are in the process of approving the criminal record check. 

Home care locations.png

This symbol is our location icon. Next to this icon will be the carers' current location, where they are currently living. This is often one of the key, major factors in whether the carer will be a good local match.  

This is our drivers icon! If this icon is present on the home carer's profile then they have both a driver's license and a car. If they have just one of the two; a car or a licence but not the other or neither the icon will be absent from the profile. 

This icon indicates which health conditions the carer has previously worked with and supported, this could be either as a home carer, live in carer, night carer, in a care home setting or on a voluntary basis, some carers also have personal experience caring for family members with certain conditions. If you'd like further information about the carer's history, we're more than happy to provide the information. 

Home Care Qualifications.png

This icon on the profile indicates whether the carer has completed home care or social care training, certification or has completed qualifications. They will be listed below the icon on the profile along with information on the level at which the qualification was obtained such as NVQ, degree level and for Health and Social Care qulaifiactions will detail the level from 1-5. Level 1 is a fairly basic level, level 2 and 3 are both good levels. Level 4 is quite advanced and level is a management level qualification. 

This icon indicates the availability of the home carer. For live in carers this section may indicate when they are available or the length of their live in care shifts. Some carers do 1 week slots, others do 2, 3, 4 or 5 week or more slots. For home care and night care this section may indicate the hours the carer is currently available for. For more information and to check the current status of this please get in touch with our advisors to check. 

Home Care Questions - Other Episodes:

Our 'Building Success Between Customer and Carer' brochure is free below. 

CareChooser

Home Care Questions - Previous Episodes:

Download our brochure below: 

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Home Care - How do I make the care a success?

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You've heard the horror stories, the care went badly... the carer left... So how do you make care a success?

We've been doing a lot of work around our vision as a company. What we stand for? Why we're doing it? How we're going to meet our vision. We've done some Facebook live videos around our trusting culture recently and we've more to do around this. 

We don't micro-manage our carers, tell them what to do, order them around and force them into anything. We give them a level of control over their own schedules, we build in flexibility and most importantly we trust them. By adding an extra layer of trust, our carers are more positive and proactive.

To give some insight into the social care industry; keeping carers is difficult. Nationally around 48% of carers leave within their 1st year, 36% leave each and every year, around 900 a day. Having worked as a carer prior to founding CareChooser in social care and also as a teacher and behaviour specialist in Special Educational Needs I am aware that carers and other professionals have little or no autonomy; zero control over decision-making and the average pay is £7.69/hour!

So what are we doing about it? 

We pay our carers form 60 to 75% more than the average, we have a trusting culture, we treat them warmly and we have reasonable expectations over time and tasks. Stressed, over-worked carers never last long. It ends up being short-term and a conveyor belt of carers. 

But unfortunately this alone is not enough. 

If care is to work, be positive and long lasting. We need all sides to be fully on board with our trusting culture, which is why this week we've launched our new brochure 'Building Success Between Customer and Carer - Preparing for Care and Success' 

We know this is not for everyone, this may not be for you and that's ok. But it is how we do things at CareChooser and it is a requirement for clients to join us, because it works. Positivity, trust, realistic expectations and taking the time to build a positive, warm relationship will result in the relationship being a long term one and your loved ones care will receive great care.

As I said, I know that this is not for everyone, but if you're considering CareChooser for your loved one then you should join us in our trusting culture and offer a level of flexibility to the carer. You should be reasonable and considerate about time and about tasks. It's often useful to consider the tasks and the amount of time it would take to do that task well. You should greet the carer warmly and create a warm relationship and you should give it a little time, a new placement takes a while to get the hang of for everyone. It'll take a little time for your loved one to adapt to having a new person in the house and it'll take the carer a while to get up to speed with the placement. 

If you'd like to speak with me or have any questions for me, I'm making myself personally available to answer any questions you may have. 

All the best, Christopher - CareChooser Founder

Home Care Questions - Other Episodes:

Our 'Building Success Between Customer and Carer' brochure is free below. 

Home Care Questions - Previous Episodes:

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Home Care - What should I look for in a carer?

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Home Care Questions - Other Episodes:

If you're thinking about getting home care to help support a loved one or looking at the option of a care home. There are lots of things to consider and think about. What should I look for in a carer?

 

The 1st thing we look for in a carer is whether they fit with our vision, it's really important to us that everyone involved with CareChooser is warm and caring and wants to make a difference to their local community. 

Qualifications

A good level of qualification is Health and Social Care Level 2. You can get higher, level 3 and level 4. Level 5 is for home care management skills. Level 1 is quite basic, level 2 is a good level of qualification. This may or may not be important to you, we find some of the best carers don't have social care qualifications but have experience caring for loved ones and are warm and caring. 

Skills

It's important to look into which skills are important to you as a family. Do you need a driver? Is the carer local enough to not need to drive? The tasks you need may affect this, does your loved one have lots of appointments to go to?

Is cooking an important skill for your carer? Personal care is an important one, check that the carer is willing to do personal care. All carers have their preferences, if personal care is a part of the care it's advisable to check this. 

Price

Check the price of the carer, per hour, per day, per night or week and check it fits within your budget. Also check that the price of the carer includes the home care companies fee and is the full amount you'll fee. The prices on our profiles are include our fee. The prices vary slightly based on the carer's skills and qualifications. 

Likes and dislikes

Get to know the carers likes and dislikes, our home care profiles tell you about the person, what they enjoy doing rather than just the clinical information. 

DBS

Check the status of the carer's DBS certificate. Our profiles will say what stage the check is at 'Checked & Approved' or 'Not Yet Checked & Approved'. Also check that an enhanced DBS check has been done. 

 

At CareChooser the most important factor we consider is whether the carer is warm and caring. Get in touch if we can help you find a carer or if we can help in any way. 

📞 0208 886 0686 

Let's Defeat Elderly Loneliness

Hi, I'm Christopher the founder of CareChooser. We match carers to clients needing care in their home. I’m also a Dementia Friend and a Dementia Friends Champion. Recently I shared an article from Good Housekeeping magazine on research done by the University of California proving sadly that loneliness plays a large role in the decline of the elderly.

So I thought I'd spend a few minutes thinking about ideas about how to defeat loneliness.

1. Invite some one around for tea or go to theirs…

2. If you fancy volunteering there is a great organisation called Contact the Elderly. You can volunteer to have tea with the elderly. I think I'd be pretty good at that!

3. A smile always always goes a long way and helps to defeat loneliness.

4. Keep in touch via the telephone.

5. Get the person a diary and start to fill in some events or calls on different days.

6. Number 6 is interesting, how about signing up to Borrow My Doggy or in my case, Borrow My Chicken.

If anyone else has any ideas about how we can defeat loneliness, post some ideas below.

All the best, Christopher

What is Live in Care?

Our new Q&A series - Your live in care questions answered.

If you have any other questions for our team do get in touch. Live chat at the foot of the page, Tel: 02088860686 & 07792939454 - Email: hello@carechooser.com

What is live in care?

A carer will live in with your loved one providing one-to-one care allowing them to stay at home within their familiar surroundings.

Do carers require their own room?

Yes, with live in care, carers require their own private room. However, it's not necessary for the carer to have their own bathroom, this can be shared.

How does it work?

There are many different ways that live in care can work. A carer can work a few weeks at a time and then take a break with a second carer taking over. Another option is for live in care to be provided for 5 days a week, the benefit of this option being the consistency of having just one carer. There is also the option of the carer living in permanently, the client and carer would then agree hours and days off.

How about food and drink?

There's usually a informal arrangement with the carer and the client eating together.

When would the carer have breaks?

This is flexible and it will be agreed with the carer you choose to work with. Usually the carer will have a 2 hour break during the day, this can be covered by family or by visirting carers.

How do the nights work?

The live in carer would sleep during the night but could be on call during this time. There are different rates for this depending on the need. Up to 2 calls per night and up to 5 calls a night.

Anymore than that and a visting night carer will be needed the live in carer wont't be able to function the next day.

We find monitors or call alarms work very well.

How much does live in care cost?

Live in care provides very good value for money. Live in care starts at around £847 per week.

There are different rates depending on calls at night, whether the carer drives or not and CareChooser Plus carers. Full details on the pricing page.

The carer's weekly cost will be displayed on their profile with the amount being the total amount due.

Could we have a live in carer for a couple?

Yes, we can provide care for a couple at home. The cost is slightly higher but provides very good value for money compared to day and night care and compared with care homes.

What sorts of things would the live in carer do?

A carer provides home care which is tailored to your loved one. Such as personal care if neccesary, supporting your loved one with washing, grooming tasks and helping to get up in the morning and going to bed at night. The carer will could also support with preparing meals, housekeeping, doing the shopping and taking your loved one to appointments. Again, care at home is designed to be flexible and we can tailor the tasks very much to your needs.

How would I keep track on my loved ones' care?

Each client has a secure page on the website. The carer will track certain aspects of the care on our care journal. It's customisable to the individual client, quick and easy for the carer so they don't spend hours writing in folders and they appear instantly on the client page.

Our team of advisors which include a nurse and a our experienced GP also keep track of the car e and can provide support for carers and families when needed.

Do you just provide live in care in London?

No, CareChooser provides live in carers across the country. We only work with families we can really help and carers that we deem to be compassionate.

Choose your live in carer today, get started today.

Find a Private Carer via Video

At CareChooser we are very excited at the launch of a new way to find a private home carer. You can now meet with our team and carers via video on desktop, tablet or on your phone. We're offering this service free of charge to help you find the carer that's the best fit for your family. The video meets will be available to families searching for quality care at home right across the country and you'll have our support throughout.

If finding the right private carer is proving difficult or you live in a different area to your loved ones, our video meetings could prove to be a great solution for your family. Up to 8 people can meet at a time too meaning multiple family members can have input in the decision to choose the carer. You'll meet with one of our care advisors and the carer where you can get to know and get a really good feel for the carer before choosing which care professional to work with.

If you're interested in meeting our carers and choosing the best the fit for your family via video get in touch with us via one of our get started forms, call us on 0208 886 0686, email us at hello@carechooser.com or use the live chat below and we'll arrange the best time to meet. We can hold a free video consultation together to get a feel for your ideas, concerns and expectations of the care, we'll send you profiles of carers in your area that meet your expectations with details of experience, qualifications, dementia training and more. This can be followed by a free video meet with the carers you choose.

For more information get in touch today. www.carechooser.com or try our premium carer service at www.carechooser.com/premium

Quick Guide to Preventing Falls

Each year 1 in 3 adults over 65 falls with 20-30% of these falls causing moderate to severe injuries. So what steps can we take to help to prevent falls in the home?

  1. Remove clutter, organise cables and remove rugs which are a massive trip hazard.

  2. Dark or poorly lit areas are a hotspot for falls. Ensure easy to use lamps are by the side of the bed, consider nightlights and brighter bulbs.

  3. Furniture. Ensure furniture is tucked back out of the way, in particular side tables. Choose taller furniture with armrests and ensure there is enough space to walk around furniture safely.

  4. Choose low heel, comfortable, slip-resistant shoes and ensure they are easy to get on or off.

  5. Ensure all items are stored within reach. Items stored in or on cupboards that are either too low or too high create a risk of falling.

  6. Bathrooms are a hotspot for falls in the home. Install shower grip bars, add non-slip mats in and outside of the shower and add a raised toilet seat.

CareChooser's advisors are experienced at working on programmes and initiatives to prevent falls. We can come to the home of your loved one make suggestions to help to prevent falls.

Call us on 0208 886 0686, contact us at hello@carechooser.com or use the live chat at www.carechooser.com.

A Million Things to do? Our 3 tech tips to help.

You've got a million things to do. 

We know the feeling. CareChooser's home care team use simple technology to help. 

1. Trello - A fantastic to do list like no other. Again you can see it on your phone via an app or online. Looks great, very easy to use. See multiple to do lists open at the same time. You can have different lists for parents, children, shopping... https://trello.com/christopher41031910/recommend

2. Apple's Notepad -

Looks great, simple to use, you can see your notes on your iPhone and iPad.

Great for keeping track of longer thoughts and things to do. 

3. Alerts for Calendar - Add items to your calendar and then set an alert to beep and remind you at the time, 10 mins, an hour or days before. Great for remebering home care consultations, pay bills and sending cards... on time... (usually!)