Home Care in Blackpool

Blackpool has 28 CQC registered home care agencies. 15 are rated Good, 1 Outstanding, 1 Requires improvement, and 11 have not yet been rated. 14 of the 28 were last inspected more than three years ago.

Source: Care Quality Commission register, kept up to date as ratings change.

Choosing a home care agency in Blackpool and what to look for

Dealing with an unrated provider

Eleven agencies here carry no published rating, which in home care usually reflects recent registration rather than a problem. It does leave you without an independent account, so the questions have to do more work. Ask how long the agency has operated locally, who the registered manager is, how many clients it currently supports, how carers are recruited and checked, and whether references can be provided. Westmorland Homecare holds the one Outstanding judgement in the listing, and fifteen further agencies have been rated Good.

The rota is what you are actually buying

Ask how many different carers would attend across a typical fortnight and whether visits arrive at a set time or within a window. A small, consistent group learns a person's routine, notices when something has changed and spares them from explaining themselves afresh each week. Ask what happens when a regular carer is ill or on leave, how lateness is monitored, and at what point the office telephones a family about a delayed call.

Practical detail to confirm

Ask what the minimum visit length is, since a very short call rarely delivers what is promised in it, and how travel time between clients is built into the schedule. Ask how care notes are kept and whether relatives can read them, how often the package is reviewed and who leads it. Agencies such as Apollo Care Blackpool, Helping Hands Blackpool, Preferred Care and Routes Healthcare DCA will each answer these differently.

Arranging care and working out who pays

The needs assessment

An assessment of need is free, open to anyone who appears to require support and unaffected by savings. An assessor considers washing and dressing, mobility, medication, meals, continence and the risks someone faces alone at home, and the outcome is set down as a care and support plan. Request one from Blackpool Council adult social care, which is responsible for assessments and for agreeing any funded support that follows. A relative providing unpaid care can ask for a carer assessment of their own at the same time.

Why the means test favours care at home

A financial assessment examines income, savings and capital, but the value of the property someone lives in is not counted when support is delivered there. That difference brings home care within reach of households who would be expected to pay the full cost of a residential placement. Where the council agrees a personal budget it can often be taken as a direct payment, allowing a family to choose and manage the agency themselves rather than accept an allocated one.

Rates and notice periods

Ask the hourly rate and whether weekends and bank holidays carry a premium. Ask how much notice is needed to change or cancel a visit and whether a cancelled call is charged anyway. Ask when rates last increased and by how much. Getting this in writing before a package begins saves difficult conversations once carers are already coming through the door.

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