Home Care in Egham

Egham has 14 CQC registered home care agencies. 10 are rated Good, 1 Requires improvement, and 3 have not yet been rated. 8 of the 14 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Planning and paying for home care in Egham

Two conversations, in the right order

Arranging support at home involves two conversations that families often have the wrong way round: what help is genuinely needed, and who is going to pay for it. Settling the first makes the second far simpler, because a clear picture of the visits required turns a vague worry about cost into an arithmetic problem. Both take longer than expected, so starting early is worth more than any amount of research.

The care needs assessment

Anyone who appears to need care and support has a right to an assessment, whatever their savings. It is carried out by London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, which considers what the person can manage safely alone and what support would close the gap. Ask for it in writing where you can and keep a record of names and dates. A relative providing regular unpaid support can request a separate carer's assessment in their own right, which is frequently overlooked until it is overdue.

What the visits cost

A financial assessment follows and determines what, if anything, the local authority contributes. Savings and most income are taken into account, and the rules applied to support at home differ from those used for a permanent move into residential care. Hourly rates vary between providers and commonly rise for evenings, weekends and bank holidays. Ask for the rate in writing together with the minimum visit length and what happens if a call is missed or cut short, because those details decide what the arrangement is actually worth. Where the authority contributes, some families take a direct payment and arrange the support themselves, which allows a free choice of provider.

Choosing a provider in Egham and what to check

Continuity before everything else

Ask each of the fourteen providers listed here how many different care workers a person is likely to see over a fortnight. Familiarity counts for a great deal once someone is frail or easily confused, and agencies vary widely on this point. Ask how visits are scheduled, what happens when a regular worker is unwell, and how much notice families receive when the rota changes.

Working around the gaps in the record

Four providers here have yet to be rated, which usually reflects a more recent registration rather than a problem, but it does leave nothing published to read. Where reports exist, as with Rock of Ages Care, Coopers Hill or Nightingales Homecare, read them rather than stopping at the rating, since inspectors tend to record precisely the practical detail families want. For an unrated agency, ask for references and ask how long its current clients have been with it.

The first fortnight

Ask what the provider does after two weeks to check the arrangement is working. That early review is where a rota which looked sensible on paper either proves itself or begins to show gaps nobody planned for. A provider willing to book that review in before the package starts is usually one that expects to be held to what it agreed, which is worth knowing before any money changes hands.

Home Care near Egham

• Staines-upon-thames
• Chertsey
• Addlestone
• Windsor
• Ascot
• Sunbury-on-thames
• Weybridge
• West Drayton
• Feltham
• Walton-on-Thames