Home Care in Salford

Salford has 58 CQC registered home care agencies. 25 are rated Good, 1 Outstanding, 2 Requires improvement, and 30 have not yet been rated. 21 of the 58 were last inspected more than three years ago.

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

What care at home in Salford involves and what to look for

The shape of a package

Care at home is bought as a series of visits, and the pattern should follow the difficult hours rather than the clock. A call first thing to help someone wash, dress and take their medicines, a lunchtime visit and a call at bedtime is one common arrangement. Agencies also provide sitting service so a family carer can leave the house, waking nights, and live in support. Whatever the pattern, what each visit covers belongs in a written care plan that is specific about tasks and timings rather than vague about both.

What the inspection picture shows

Home Instead Salford and Worsley holds the single Outstanding rating here, and twenty three agencies are rated Good, among them Helping Hands, Amore Home Care, Select Community Support and ForExcel Healthcare. Two have been told they require improvement. Thirty one carry no grade because they have not yet been inspected in full, which is common after a recent registration but does mean there is no independent view to lean on. For those providers, references and your own questions are the only evidence available.

What separates one agency from another

Continuity is the single biggest factor. Ask how many different carers would come over a fortnight, whether the same people cover weekends, and how sickness and holidays are managed. Ask the minimum visit length, whether travel time is taken out of it, and who telephones the family when a carer is delayed. Ask how medicines are given and recorded, since that is where inspectors most often find fault, and how a missed visit is investigated afterwards.

Getting an assessment and paying for care at home

The care needs assessment

Anyone who appears to need care can ask for an assessment, free of charge and whatever their savings. It covers getting up and dressed, meals, medicines, mobility, continence and the support family or neighbours already give, and it records what is needed and how often. That record shapes the support plan and any funding decision that follows. Requests go to Salford City Council Adult Social Care, the authority responsible for assessing need and arranging funded support.

Rates and contributions

Agencies charge by the hour or by the visit, with rates usually higher at weekends, on bank holidays and for calls late in the evening. A financial assessment compares income and capital with the national thresholds and sets the contribution towards eligible care. The value of the house a person lives in is disregarded while care is delivered there, which is a meaningful difference from a permanent move into a care home. A direct payment allows someone to choose their own agency while the council still contributes.

Starting well

Ask for rates in writing, weekend figures included, and check the notice needed to change or stop visits. Begin with a short trial and review it honestly after a fortnight rather than letting an unsatisfactory arrangement drift. Changing agency is ordinary and needs no explanation. Every profile on this page carries the published inspection findings, which is the quickest way to work out where to start.

Related searches

• Care Homes in Salford
• Nursing Homes in Salford

Home Care near Salford

• Manchester
• Eccles
• Sale
• Heywood
• Bury
• Altrincham
• Oldham
• Cheadle
• Ashton-under-lyne
• Bolton