If you're thinking about home help support, either for yourself or for someone else, you may be wondering what happens before and during our home visits and how we make sure our clients are protected at these times.
Happy to Help, Gateshead’s leading third sector home help service, explain their safety measures in full, to highlight what is being done to remove the risk to the hundreds of clients they support with cleaning, shopping, befriending, bill paying and prescription collection.
In the information below we cover how we’ll be carrying out:-
· Safe home assessments for new clients
· Safe weekly home help visits
Home Assessments for New Clients
In this section, we answer some of the most commonly asked questions that people ask us when it comes to accessing our services for the first time. If you have a question about how to access support, that we don’t cover below, or if you want to extra information, we’d love to hear from you and help in any way we can.
"How do I get a home assessment during the pandemic?"
We have a friendly head office support team who are there to help local people to get the support they need, and are there for our clients whenever they need us, for whatever they need us for. Liz, Nancy or Linda will answer your call, and answer any questions you have about home help services, and can book you an appointment to have a chat in the comfort of your own home. The head office number is 0191 4785919, or you can email directly to liz@teamwork-dt.co.uk. We also have a handy call back form you can use too!
"What happens at a home assessment?"
Liz, our expert home help coordinator, carries out all of our home assessments, and will arrive at the designated appointment time, wearing full PPE (which is changed between each household) and talk to you about your home help needs. We only do the jobs you want us to do, leaving you and your family in full control at all times of your home care plan. You can change which tasks you want us to do as often as you want too once your service begins. If you need to time think about things, Liz will leave our full home help information pack, and she’s there at the end of the telephone (0191 478 5919) if you need further advice.
"How long does the home assessment last?"
During the pandemic, we’re keeping our home assessments as short as possible, whilst giving you as much time as you need to ask questions, get to know our services, and to feel comfortable. Most home assessments last around one hour.
"Will my home assessment be safe to carry out in my home?"
You can have complete peace of mind that your home assessment is safe. Our team are experts in what they do, and we’ve been delivering home assessments for 20 years. Liz has fresh PPE on ready before she enters your home, will keep 2 metres away from household members at all times, and we’ve removed the need for signatures on paperwork too, to remove any risks of coming too close, or sharing pens/paper.
"What do I need to prepare before the home assessment?"
All we ask for you to do on the day of your assessment, only if you can, is to keep your home well ventilated, and to open all internal doors between you front door and the area that you’d like Liz to carry out the visit. You don’t need to clean before we come, or do anything differently.
"What if I am unwell on the day of my home assessment?"
If you, or anyone else in your household begin to display symptoms of coronavirus before your home assessment, simply give us a call and let us know and we can rearrange the date for you.
"Can I have someone with me at the assessment?"
Of course! We will be happy to carry out our visit with anyone that you would like to be present, we only ask that you consider in advance your living space so that there can be a 2 metre distance at all times between Liz and you and the person you would like to attend.
"Is there a charge for my home assessment?"
No, it is completely free.
Safe weekly home help visits
During the lockdown, we kept in touch with all of our clients to ensure that they felt happy, safe and reassured. As a result, when we restarted our service in July, our clients were really looking forward to seeing their home help carer and had complete peace of mind.
"How soon after my home assessment will my regular home help visits begin?"
We aim to start your visits within a week or two, or if you have a date in mind of when you’d like your home help visits to start, we’ll work towards that date. We’ll keep you informed all the way.
"What PPE are your home help team wearing?"
Our clients felt most reassurance from our plans of following the PPE safety guidelines that apply to home carers. Our team have masks, hand sanitisers, shoe covers, see through visors, aprons, and gloves. A new set of PPE will be put on before they enter your home, and they will take it off when they leave.
"Do I still receive the same support that I had before the pandemic?"
Yes. Our clients benefit from having the same home help carer each visit, or our floating carer steps in when your regular carer is on holiday or absent from work. This means that you and your loved ones can get to know and trust your carer, and your carer will get to know what you want, and how you want your home to be looked after. If they do shopping for you, they will get to know what your preferences are and how you like items put away for example. It is this familiarity that our clients tell us that they value the most.
"How does Happy to Help keep me safe during my visit?"
Our PPE, strict hygiene measures and distancing when carrying out your home help tasks removes the risk but we’ll also work in a systematic way throughout your home to add extra safety measures.
"What can I do before they arrive?"
We want you to relax and look forward to your visit from Happy to Help so all we ask you to do in advance, if you can, is to keep you home well ventilated and leave your internal doors open.
"What can I do while my carer is in my home?"
Our home help carer will move from room to room and will keep a 2 metre distance from you and anyone else in your household. If you want to sit and relax during your visit, or want to move around your home to do whatever you wish, just let you home help carer know and we’ll work together to keep our distance, and to try to be in different rooms and different times, and to avoid passing you in corridors, doorways, hallways, landings or stairways.
"Do I have to sign any paperwork?"
At the moment, we’re suspending the need for getting your signature at the end of each visit.
"How do I pay?"
There are a number of ways you can pay for your visit. If you’d like to pay by cash, simply leave the money somewhere safe, where your carer can get it and if possible, leave the correct amount (currently £15.75 per hour). You can pay by cheque too if you prefer. Alternatively, we can send an invoice to you or to the person who is taking care of paying for your home help visits.
If you or someone you know needs some support at home, the experts at Happy to Help are always available to answer any questions, arrange a home visit or to help in any other way that they can. Call the team on 0191 4785919, email liz@teamwork-dt.co.uk, or use the priority call back form.
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