Home Care in Swanage

Swanage has 3 CQC registered home care agencies. 2 are rated Good, and 1 has not yet been rated. 1 of the 3 was 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 Swanage

Starting with the assessment

The cost of care at home depends less on a headline hourly rate than on how many visits are actually needed, which is what the assessment establishes. An assessment of need is free, open to anyone who may require support, and it records how someone manages washing, dressing, medication, meals, mobility and safety. Ask Dorset Council Adult Social Care to carry it out and to arrange the financial assessment that follows. If you provide the care yourself, ask for a carer's assessment at the same time, since it looks at the support you need in order to continue.

What funded support looks like

Visiting care is usually charged by the hour or by the visit, with higher rates at weekends and on bank holidays, and some agencies set a minimum call length. Where capital falls below the national threshold, the council may fund an agreed package, either by arranging it or through a direct payment that lets the person choose their own agency. Above that threshold, care is paid for privately. Ask for the rates in writing, with any travel charges, notice periods and the terms for changing or cancelling visits.

Choosing a Provider in Swanage and What to Check

Two published reports and one agency without a rating

Purbeck Personal Assistants and Care Purbeck are both rated Good, so read their reports for what inspectors said about staffing, about how carers are supervised in people's homes and about the response when something goes wrong. Jurassic Care has no published rating, so ask when it registered, whether an inspection is expected and how it checks its own standards in the meantime. Ask any agency, rated or not, how it handles missed visits and how often care plans are reviewed, since those answers reveal a great deal.

The practical questions about visits

Ask how long each call lasts, how many carers would come in a week and whether a small regular team can be promised rather than whoever is free. Ask what happens when a carer is ill or delayed, and who answers the telephone at night and at weekends. Ask how medicines, meals and personal care are recorded at each visit, and who updates the care plan when something changes. If needs are likely to grow, ask whether visits can be increased or live in support arranged later.

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