Home Care in Gateshead

Gateshead has 44 CQC registered home care agencies. 35 are rated Good, 1 Requires improvement, and 8 have not yet been rated. 20 of the 44 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Arranging home care in Gateshead and working out who pays

The care needs assessment

An assessment is the sensible first move, ahead of ringing round agencies. Anyone who appears to need care and support can request one free of charge whatever their income or savings, and it produces the written record of eligible needs that providers will work from. A practitioner from Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council will discuss washing, dressing, eating, taking medication, moving safely around the home and keeping in touch with other people, then set out which needs are eligible for support. Anyone giving regular unpaid help has a separate right to a carer's assessment, so ask for both in the same conversation rather than waiting to be offered one.

Funding and the cost of care at home

Where needs are found eligible, a financial assessment of income and capital follows. Care may then be funded in full, funded in part with a contribution from the person receiving it, or paid for privately. Families who qualify can request a direct payment and commission an agency of their own choosing rather than accept one arranged for them, which matters when a particular provider has impressed you. Privately funded home care is normally charged by the hour, with higher rates at weekends, on bank holidays and for shorter calls, while live in support is quoted weekly. Ask each agency for its rates, minimum visit length and notice period in writing before anything is agreed, and check whether travel time is billed separately.

Choosing between home care agencies in Gateshead

What the ratings tell you

All forty four agencies listed here are registered with the Care Quality Commission. Thirty five have been rated Good, one holds Requires Improvement, and eight are not yet rated because they registered too recently to be inspected. Where a report exists, read what inspectors found about the punctuality of calls, how medicines were administered and recorded, what training carers received before being sent out and how the registered manager responded to concerns. Check the inspection date as well, since a service can change substantially between visits. An unrated agency has not been inspected rather than been criticised, so ask how long it has traded and who registered it.

Matching the agency to the person

Providers differ in what they will take on. Some concentrate on short personal care calls, others offer longer companionship visits, dementia support, overnight cover or help settling someone home after a hospital stay, and agencies in this listing such as Comfort Call Gateshead, Nupath Care Gateshead and Housing Twenty One at Winton Court work in different ways. Confirm that carers genuinely travel to the address, ask who writes the care plan and check how quickly it can be revised if needs increase suddenly.

The questions that predict reliability

Ask how many different carers will attend over a fortnight and whether a small consistent team is kept for each person. Find out how you would be told when a call is running late, who answers the telephone at weekends and how complaints are recorded and resolved. Ask how often care plans are formally reviewed and what happens when a regular carer leaves, because continuity is what families comment on most once care is under way.

Related searches

• Care Homes in Gateshead
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Home Care near Gateshead

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• Houghton Le Spring