Home Care in Fleet

Fleet has 45 CQC registered home care agencies. 18 are rated Good, 1 Outstanding, 1 Requires improvement, and 25 have not yet been rated. 15 of the 45 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Planning and paying for care at home in Fleet

Getting an honest measure of what is needed

Deciding how much help to buy is the hardest part, and families rarely get it right by guesswork. A care needs assessment settles it independently, free of charge, and anyone who appears to need care and support can request one whatever their savings. The assessor considers washing, dressing, meals, medication, mobility, memory and safety at home, then puts the eligible needs in writing. That document is worth having even for those who will pay privately, because agencies quote against what is required rather than what a family hopes will be enough.

How the funding side works

A financial assessment follows, weighing income, savings and property against the national thresholds. Where support is due, Hampshire County Council Adult Social Care agrees a personal budget which may be taken as arranged services or as a direct payment used to buy care from an agency the family chooses. Where support is not due, the arrangement is private from the start. The same assessment route serves later on if care at home stops being enough and residential care has to be looked at.

What it costs

Agencies price by the hour or by the visit, with higher rates in the evening, at weekends and on bank holidays. A short call often 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 the notice needed to change or cancel a visit, and confirm whether the charge alters when two carers are required for safe moving and handling.

Choosing an agency in Fleet and what to check

Half the picture is unpublished

One agency here, Real People Ltd, holds an Outstanding rating and eighteen are rated Good, while one is rated Requires Improvement and twenty four have not yet been rated at all. An agency without a rating has simply not been inspected since registering, so it is neither endorsed nor condemned by the absence. Where a report exists, read the sections on staffing, medicines and complaints. Where none exists, ask how long the agency has operated, who registers as manager, and whether it can put you in touch with families it already supports.

The questions that decide it

Reliability matters more than anything in the brochure. Ask how many different carers will attend, whether calls come at a set time or within a window, and what happens when a carer rings in sick. Ask how staff are trained, how medication is recorded, and who answers the telephone on a Sunday evening. Ask how the office keeps relatives at a distance informed about what is happening.

Before signing anything

Treat the contract as seriously as a tenancy agreement. Check the notice period, the minimum visit length and how rates change on bank holidays. Ask what happens when needs increase and more time is needed, and whether the agency has the capacity to supply it. A short trial followed by a frank review after a fortnight will tell a family far more than another week spent comparing websites.

Related searches

• Care Homes in Fleet
• Nursing Homes in Fleet

Home Care near Fleet

• Farnborough
• Camberley
• Aldershot
• Farnham
• Crowthorne
• Bagshot
• Wokingham
• Bracknell