Hi all, I am looking after my elderly mother who has COPD and is frail, on O2. I am looking for an agency to provide care (short periods and 24 hour live in) when I need to be away, my husband has early Alzheimer's but he would be with me. Any help / advice would be appreciated.
With thanks
Kathleen
Hi Katie019,
It seems that you have quite full hands with looking after your mum and coping with a husband with Alzheimers, and I can see that when you are away you'd need someone capable and professional as well as caring, to look after your mum.
It would be really difficult, and not that good an idea, to recommend any specific agency, even if I knew of one, and further, I notice that, in your profile you give Malta as your country, which could also complicate the issue if you aren't actually living in UK.
And I think that this is something very personal to you, so that, when you are away, you can be certain that your mum is in the right, capable hands so that you don't have extra worries about her whilst you aren't there.
There are now many agencies of the sort you are looking for, most of whom advertise online and I think the one word I'd use with regard to finding the right one is 'caution'.
You can't ask too many questions, particularly if you are intending to have an agency in your own home whilst you are not there!
I'd say never, ever, start out by using such an agency whilst you are away, but find one with which you can slowly build up trust, and preferably one which can provide the same person, or people to give the care needed, so that your mum feels comfortable with them and trusts them too.
Hope that helps a bit!
Best wishes.
Hello, thank you for the advice , it is appreciated. Have updated profule, I suspect I was on holiday in Malta when I signed in.
With thanks
Hi Katie,
Welcome to our community. I support what Calendarsgirl has advised. I’d like add that it would be helpful to for you as a carer, that you get a Carers Assessment and Needs assessment for your mum. It may be helpful to speak to her GP and Social Services to find out what is available locally. Here are some websites that are very informative and may help you with your research:
Carers UK:
carersuk.org/help-and-advic...
Carers Trust:
Age UK:
ageuk.org.uk/information-ad...
Right At Home UK:
Hope this helps. Keep us informed about how things are going.
Take care,
Best wishes,
MAS Nurse
Hello Kathleen, I just contacted a care group on line called Care.com. Not very impressed with it. There was no mention of a fee to access the info but they seem to have a lot of varied staff, some very young with little experience and it costs £35 per month to access the staff you need, prices vary from £5 per hour to £15 per hour. If I was you I would contact your local Social Services or GP for suitable agencies to supply your care needs for your mum. Hope this is of use best wishes.
Hi Katie
So you are in UK. I assume you will be doing this as a private arrangement because if your Mum qualified for support the council would be "providing" carers. Lots of councils have an approved Personal Assistant (carers) schemes they all use different names oxford is approved PA, this way you get the same person and continuity of care. or you could use a care company that do both domoicilery (pop in care) and live in care so you may get the same people nice for your Mum not having "constant strangers" in the house. If you go the PA route you can interview them and choose the person/people (I always think it's best to have 2) helps to cover holidays etc also we all have different qualities so you can choose somebody who is good at giving Mum a shower but another who maybe good at cooking.. Some people use both ways a private carer and a company. Registered care agency's also have care quality commission reports (found on CQC website) these sometimes do not reflect the care you get as they are often years old. A good suggestion of starting care when your there to also show carer were things are and the way mum likes things done!
Good luck it is a very difficult task
X
This might sound strange and I'm not sure if it would work, but if there's a carer support group in your area why not go along to a meeting as you might here of a good agency from other carers
After the Caring's done
Liverpool care pathway