Home Care in Uxbridge

Uxbridge has 34 CQC registered home care agencies. 18 are rated Good, 1 Requires improvement, and 15 have not yet been rated. 10 of the 34 were 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 Uxbridge

Care at home is charged by the hour or by the visit, which makes it easier to budget for than a residential placement. It still adds up quickly once several calls a day are involved, so the funding position is worth settling before the search goes far.

The care needs assessment

Any adult who appears to need care and support is entitled to an assessment, whatever their savings, and it costs nothing. It examines personal care, mobility, nutrition, memory, medication and the risks of managing alone, and produces a written record of the support required. London Borough of Hillingdon Adult Social Care is responsible for that assessment and for the financial assessment that decides what public funding contributes. Where support is agreed, ask whether it could be paid as a direct payment, since that normally leaves the choice of agency with the family rather than the council.

What the hourly rate covers

Agencies set their own charges, which vary by 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 you pay for. Check how quickly a package can be increased if needs change, what notice applies to end it and whether a call cancelled on the day is charged. Where the council contributes, confirm whether its rate meets the full charge or leaves a difference for the family to find, and get that answer in writing before the visits begin.

Choosing an agency and what to check

With more than a third of this list awaiting a first inspection, your own questions carry more weight than they would with residential care.

Continuity, cover and who turns up

Ask how many different carers would visit 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 a family is told if a visit will be late, and who answers the telephone in the evening or at a weekend. Ask how care workers are recruited, what training they complete before working alone and how they are supervised afterwards. A manager who answers these precisely has usually thought about them properly, and vagueness about cover rarely improves once the visits have started.

Working with a rating, or without one

Where an inspection has taken place, the rating rests on five judgements covering whether a service is safe, effective, caring, responsive and well led, and the detail underneath is far more useful than the word itself. Note the date, because a small agency can change considerably within a year. Where no rating has been issued, ask how long the service has operated, how many people it supports at present and whether it can put you in touch with an existing family. A missing rating is not a warning, but it does leave the checking to you.

Related searches

• Care Homes in Uxbridge
• Nursing Homes in Uxbridge

Home Care near Uxbridge

• West Drayton
• Ruislip
• Hayes
• Northolt
• Northwood
• Southall
• Pinner
• Gerrards Cross
• Greenford
• Slough