Home Care in Dover

Dover has 34 CQC registered home care agencies. 16 are rated Good, 2 Outstanding, 4 Requires improvement, and 12 have not yet been rated. 19 of the 34 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Arranging and funding home care in Dover

Home care is often arranged in a hurry, after a fall or a discharge, and the funding question tends to arrive late. Opening it early changes what is possible, because the number of hours a council agrees to fund shapes which of the thirty four agencies in this Dover listing can realistically build a rota around your relative. Two assessments sit behind the answer, one about need and one about money.

Requesting a care needs assessment

Anyone who appears to need care and support can ask for a care needs assessment, and it is free whatever their income or savings. Kent County Council is responsible for carrying out that assessment for people living in Dover and for deciding which needs are eligible for funded support. An assessor looks at washing, dressing, meals, medication, mobility and safety at home, and asks what the person wants their day to look like, then records the eligible needs in writing. Ask for a copy, because the hours and tasks in a care package are drawn directly from it, and an unpaid carer can request a separate carer's assessment of their own.

What home care costs and who pays

A financial assessment then considers income, savings and property to work out the person's contribution. Where the council funds a package, it pays up to the rate it has set for the assessed level of need, and anyone arranging care privately contracts with the agency directly. Agencies in Dover usually charge an hourly rate, often higher for evenings, weekends and bank holidays, with shorter visits sometimes charged at a minimum length. Ask for the rates in writing, along with what happens when a visit runs over, whether travel time is charged, and how much notice is needed to change or cancel a call.

Choosing a home care agency in Dover and what to check

An agency is not judged on its building. What matters is who turns up, whether it is the same person each week, and what happens when that person is ill. Those are the questions that separate the thirty four providers listed here.

Using the inspection evidence

Every agency on this page is registered with the Care Quality Commission. Inchwater Home Care currently holds an Outstanding rating. Sixteen are rated Good, among them Virtuous Health Group, Royal Care Dover, Infinity Care Limited, Healing Touch Care Limited and Wave Hill. Four are rated Requires Improvement, including Big Hearts Recruitment Ltd, Flamelily Independent Living and Scodef Care. Twelve have not yet been rated, which for a domiciliary agency very often means it registered recently. Each rating summarises five separate judgements about safety, effectiveness, care, responsiveness and leadership, and the report explains which of them carried the verdict. For an unrated agency, ask the manager how it recruits, trains and supervises staff, and what its own quality checks look like.

Questions to ask before you commit

Ask how many different carers would visit in a typical fortnight and whether you would be told in advance who is coming. Ask what the agency does when a carer calls in sick, and how late a visit can run before you are contacted. Ask who writes the care plan, how often it is reviewed and whether the family is included. Ask how medication is recorded, how concerns are raised and answered, and how much notice either side must give to end the arrangement.

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Home Care near Dover

• Deal
• Folkestone
• Sandwich