Home Care in Durham

Durham has 18 CQC registered home care agencies. 12 are rated Good, 2 Outstanding, and 4 have not yet been rated. 12 of the 18 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

What home care in Durham involves and what to look for

Support at home can mean a single morning call or several visits a day, and for some households live in care. It is the option most people prefer, because it keeps a relative in familiar surroundings, but it only works when the visits actually happen as promised.

Setting out what the visits must cover

Start with the practical detail: what times of day help is needed, how long each visit should be and what it has to include. Personal care, prompting with medication, preparing meals, shopping and company are the common requests, though agencies differ in how they manage memory loss, moving and handling, or a relative who is unwilling to accept help at first. Ask how many different carers would come over a fortnight and how the agency keeps that number down. Ask too what happens when the regular carer is on leave, and how much warning you would get if a visit had to be moved. Agencies that answer those questions precisely are usually the ones that plan their rotas rather than improvise them.

What the ratings tell you

Each rating rests on five judgements covering whether a service is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led. Two agencies here have reached Outstanding and twelve are rated Good, while four await a first inspection, which is usual for newer services and not a mark against them. Read the report rather than the rating where one exists, and note the date, because a small agency can change considerably within a year. Where no report exists, put the same questions to the manager directly and judge the answers you get on their own merits.

Getting an assessment and sorting out the funding

Care at home is charged by the hour or the visit, which makes it simpler to budget for than residential care, though the route to any public funding is broadly the same.

Requesting a care needs assessment

Anyone who appears to need care and support can ask for an assessment, whatever their savings, and it costs nothing. It looks at personal care, mobility, nutrition, memory, medication and the risks of managing alone, and ends in a written record of what support is required. Durham County Council Adult Social Care carries out that assessment and the financial assessment that decides what public funding contributes. If support is agreed, ask whether it could be paid as a direct payment, because that generally leaves the choice of provider with the family.

Understanding the hourly charge

Providers set their own rates, which reflect the time of day, the length of each call, the skills required and whether weekends or bank holidays are covered. Ask for the rate in writing, ask what the minimum visit length is and ask whether travel time between calls comes out of the visit. Check how quickly a package can be increased if needs change and what notice each side must give to end it. Where the council contributes, confirm whether its rate covers the full charge or leaves a shortfall for the family.

Local care news in County Durham

• New 48 bed care home registered with CQC in County Durham: Willowdene Care Home (5 November 2026)

More local care news for County Durham

Related searches

• Care Homes in Durham
• Nursing Homes in Durham

Home Care near Durham

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