Home Care in Rainham

Rainham has 33 CQC registered home care agencies. 15 are rated Good, and 18 have not yet been rated. 12 of the 33 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

Arranging home care in Rainham and paying for it

Support at home is usually the first arrangement families try, and it is the easiest to adjust as circumstances change. The route to getting it organised is more predictable than most people expect, provided the assessment comes before the shopping around.

The care needs assessment

Anyone who appears to need care and support can ask for an assessment, whatever their savings, and there is no charge. A practitioner looks at personal care, mobility, nutrition, memory, medication and the risks of managing alone, then records in writing what support is required. Medway Council Adult Social Care carries out that assessment and the financial assessment that decides what public funding contributes towards the cost. If funding is agreed, ask whether it could be taken as a direct payment, since that usually leaves a family free to choose the agency themselves rather than accepting whoever is commissioned.

What the hourly rate covers

Agencies set their own rates, which vary according to the time of day, the length of each call, the skills required and whether weekends or bank holidays are involved. Ask for the rate in writing, ask what the shortest visit is that a provider will accept, and ask whether travel time between calls comes out of the visit itself. Check how quickly a package can be increased if needs change and what notice either side must give. Where the council contributes, confirm whether its rate meets the full charge or leaves a difference for the family.

Choosing an agency and what to check first

Because so much of this list has yet to be inspected, the burden of judgement falls more heavily on you than it would with residential care. That makes the questions you ask, and the answers you get, the real evidence.

Continuity, cover and who actually turns up

Ask how many different carers would attend over a typical fortnight and how the agency keeps that number down. Ask what happens when a regular carer is on leave or off sick, how late a visit can run before anybody is told, and who answers the telephone in the evening or at the weekend. Ask how care workers are recruited, what training they receive before working alone and how they are supervised once they are. A provider that answers these plainly is usually a provider that has thought about them.

Reading a rating, or working without one

Where a report exists, the rating rests on five judgements covering whether a service is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led, and the detail underneath matters more than the word on the badge. Note the date, because a small agency can change a great deal in a year. Where no rating has been given, ask how long the service has been operating, how many people it supports at present and whether it can put you in touch with an existing family. Absence of a rating is not a warning, but it does mean you are the one doing the checking.

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