Home Care in Portsmouth

Portsmouth has 60 CQC registered home care agencies. 19 are rated Good, 2 Outstanding, 5 Requires improvement, 2 Inadequate, and 32 have not yet been rated. 19 of the 60 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Choosing between the home care agencies in Portsmouth

What the published grades cover

Two agencies here are rated Outstanding, Home Instead Portsmouth and Right at Home Portsmouth, and nineteen more are rated Good. Four have been told they require improvement and two are rated Inadequate, which is a reason to look hard at the report rather than to dismiss a provider without reading it. Thirty three carry no rating at all. That usually means a recent registration rather than a hidden problem, but it does leave you without an independent view, so those agencies deserve more questions from you, not fewer.

The questions that reveal how an agency runs

Continuity decides most of the experience. Ask how many different carers would come in a fortnight, whether the same people cover weekends, and what happens when someone is ill or on leave. Ask the minimum length of a visit, whether travel time eats into it, and who telephones if a carer is delayed. Ask how the office is staffed in the evening and at weekends, since that is precisely when things go wrong. Finally, ask to see a blank care plan and find out how soon it would be reviewed once visits begin.

Matching the package to the day

Care at home is bought in visits, so the shape of the package matters as much as the provider. A morning call to get up, wash and dress, a lunchtime visit for a meal and medicines, and a call at bedtime is a common pattern, and some agencies also offer sitting service, waking nights or live in support. Be honest about the parts of the day that are hardest rather than spreading help thinly across all of them. A package built around the difficult hours works better than one built around the clock.

Arranging care and paying for it in Portsmouth

Beginning with a care needs assessment

Anyone who appears to need care can ask for a care needs assessment, free of charge and whatever their savings. It looks at getting up and dressed, meals, medicines, mobility, continence and the help relatives already give, and produces a written account of what is needed and how often. That account drives the support plan and any funding decision. Requests go to Portsmouth City Council Adult Social Care, which is responsible for assessing need and for arranging funded support where a person qualifies.

What it costs and who contributes

Home care is charged by the hour or by the visit, and rates vary between agencies, usually rising at weekends, on bank holidays and for calls outside ordinary hours. The financial assessment compares income and capital with the national thresholds and sets the contribution towards eligible care. The value of the house someone lives in is disregarded while care is delivered there, which is an important difference from a permanent move into a home. Some people take a direct payment and buy the care themselves, choosing the agency and shaping the rota.

Reading a quote and starting well

Ask for hourly rates in writing, including weekends, and check whether mileage is added and what notice is needed to change or cancel a call. Agree a short trial and review it honestly after a fortnight, because changing agency early is far easier than unpicking a poor arrangement months later. The profiles on this page carry the inspection findings in full, which is the quickest way to decide who is worth a first telephone call.

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