Home Care in Chatham

Chatham has 45 CQC registered home care agencies. 8 are rated Good, 1 Outstanding, 9 Requires improvement, and 27 have not yet been rated. 12 of the 45 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Arranging and funding care at home in Chatham

Starting with an assessment

Guesswork is an expensive way to decide how much help someone needs. A care needs assessment settles the question independently, free of charge, and anyone who appears to need care and support can ask for one whatever their savings. The assessor looks at washing, dressing, meals, medication, mobility, memory and safety at home, then records which needs are eligible. Families intending to pay for everything themselves still gain from having it, because agencies then quote against what is genuinely required rather than against a rough guess made under pressure.

How the funding is decided

A separate financial assessment weighs income, savings and property against the national thresholds. Where support is due, Medway Council Adult Social Care agrees a personal budget, which may be taken as services the council arranges or as a direct payment used to buy care from an agency the family picks. Where support is not due, the arrangement is private from the outset. The same route is used later if care at home stops being enough and residential care has to be considered.

What it costs

Charges are made by the hour or by the visit, with higher rates in the evening, at weekends and on bank holidays. A short call frequently costs more per hour than a longer one, and live in support is priced on a different basis again. Ask for the rate card in writing, check how much notice is needed to change or cancel a visit, and confirm what happens to the charge when two carers are needed for safe moving and handling.

Choosing between the home care agencies in Chatham

A mixed and largely unpublished record

One agency here, Azure Care, holds an Outstanding rating and eight are rated Good, while nine are rated Requires Improvement and twenty six have not yet been rated. That is a wider spread than many areas show, and it means the reports deserve reading rather than skimming. Where an agency has been asked to improve, look at which areas fell short and ask what has been done since. Where no rating exists, ask how long the agency has been operating, who the registered manager is, and whether it can put you in touch with families it already supports.

The questions worth asking

Reliability decides how an arrangement feels after the first fortnight. Ask how many different carers will attend, whether calls come at a fixed time or within a window, and what the agency does when a carer is off sick. Ask how staff are trained, how medication is recorded, and who answers the telephone late on a Sunday. Ask how relatives at a distance are kept informed when something changes.

Before you sign

Read the contract as carefully as you would a tenancy. Check the notice period, the minimum visit length and how rates alter on bank holidays. Ask what happens when needs increase and more time is required, and whether the agency has the staff to provide it. A short trial followed by an honest review after two weeks reveals more than any amount of comparing on paper.

Related searches

• Care Homes in Chatham
• Nursing Homes in Chatham

Home Care near Chatham

• Rochester
• Aylesford
• Maidstone
• West Malling
• Gravesend
• Sittingbourne
• Tilbury
• Longfield