Home Care in Faversham

Faversham has 7 CQC registered home care agencies. 5 are rated Good, 1 Outstanding, and 1 has not yet been rated. 5 of the 7 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

What Home Care in Faversham Involves and What to Look For

How the support is actually delivered

Home care means paid care workers coming to the person's own address, usually for a set number of visits each day, to help with washing and dressing, meals, medication, continence and getting safely in and out of bed. Visits can be as short as half an hour or run to several hours, and some providers also arrange overnight or live in support. The advantage is obvious, in that the person stays in familiar surroundings with their own routine intact. The limitation is equally plain, since nobody is present between calls, and that is the point at which families usually begin looking at residential options instead.

What separates a good provider from an adequate one

Consistency of the care worker matters more than almost anything else, so ask how many different people would attend in a typical week and whether the same faces come at weekends. Ask how the rota handles sickness and holidays, what happens if a visit is running late, and whether the family is told. Ask how long the office allows for travel between calls, because a rota with no travel time built in is a rota that will slip. Ask too how the care plan is written and how often it is reviewed once support has started.

Reading the inspection evidence

No Place Like Home currently holds an Outstanding rating and four providers are rated Good, while one has been rated Inadequate and one is too recently registered to have been inspected. Where a provider has been rated Inadequate, read the report carefully and check whether conditions were imposed and whether any later inspection shows progress. On providers rated Good, the paragraphs describing what could be stronger are usually the most useful part of the document. Look also at what inspectors recorded about missed calls, medication records and staff training, as those are the things families notice first.

Getting an Assessment and Sorting Out the Funding

The care needs assessment

Arranging support in an orderly way begins with having the person's needs written down, because every later decision refers back to that record. The assessment is free and covers mobility, continence, meals, medication, memory, mood and how much the current arrangement is relying on family. Ask for a carer's assessment at the same time if you provide regular unpaid care, since carers have needs the law recognises in their own right. A relative can make either request on someone's behalf.

Who pays for the visits

A financial assessment of income and capital follows the needs assessment, and Kent County Council Adult Social Care is the body that carries out both stages and confirms the result. Funding may be granted in full, granted as a contribution, or declined on the basis of capital, in which case the support is arranged privately. Where a personal budget is agreed, taking it as a direct payment lets the family choose the provider themselves rather than accept an allocation. Ask for the decision in writing before any agreement is signed.

Understanding what it costs

Providers set their own hourly rates, and the figure usually varies with the length of the visit, the time of day and whether weekends or bank holidays are involved. Ask what the minimum visit length is, how short calls are charged, and whether there is a separate rate for a second carer where two are needed. Ask what notice period applies if the arrangement is changed or stopped. A written schedule of charges before support begins is the simplest way to avoid a dispute later.

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