Our Carers

The Helping Hands team responsible for our Live-in Care service can be split into two; the Carers who look after our customers in their homes on a one-to-one basis, and the management team who arrange the care and monitor our Carers.

Our Live-In Carers

The Carers who provide Live-in Care for Helping Hands customers are a special group of people and we are very proud of them; many of them have been with us for many years providing a strong, consistent base to our home care team. Our Live-in Carers come from a variety of backgrounds, countries and age groups. From 18 to 70, male and female, we have Carers from the UK, South Africa, Eastern Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

All our Carers are vetted and subject to UK Criminal Records Bureau checks and checked against the ISA (Independent Safeguard Authority) List. We put a lot of effort into matching the right Carer with each customer; it is a very personalized process where we look at the individual requirements of each case and match them to a suitable Carer profile, ensuring that the Carers have the right amount of experience to deal with your situation.

Hear what some of our customers have to say about our carers.

Continuity of Care

Consistency is an important element of Live-in Care and the conditions that we deal with. At Helping Hands, providing the service is working well, we will make every effort to maintain continuity of care. Our Live-in Carers generally work in 5-8 week blocks offering consistency, continuity of care and allowing relationships and familiarity to develop. We do not rotate staff on a 2 week on, 2 week off basis.

As part of our Helping Hands guarantee, we will provide cover in the case of illness or holiday, so that the customer is not left alone for a period of time. Holiday time is booked in advance with the Live-in Care Manager, so that an appropriate replacement Carer can be found and a detailed face to face handover can be arranged, allowing for a better understanding of the care needs.

Support is always available

Our Live-in Care cases are supervised by our own Registered General Nurse (RGN) and a Senior Manager. We offer 24/7 emergency back-up and cover via our main office number - 01789 762121 - for both customers and Carers, so if there is ever a problem, support can be summoned.

Our Carers are always fully briefed on the type of care that each customer requires before they take up any assignment; we also ensure that each Carer has the experience and the training to deal with any specific conditions that the customer may be facing. When Carers have to change, we allow for a face to face changeover period of up to 24 hours so that the incoming Carer is familiar with their customers specific needs.

Monitoring staff performance

At Helping Hands, we directly employ all of our Caring staff. We assume all employment responsibilities, including regular supervisions and annual appraisals. Every Carer will undergo four supervisions a year; ensuring that their training is up to date and that they are offering their customer the best possible care is our primary objective.

From time to time we will ask a customer to complete a Carer feedback form, which gives them the opportunity to rate their Carer’s performance. We also undertake regular in-house surveys. Both Carers and customers are assessed regularly throughout the year by a Live-In Care Manager or Helping Hands Assessor.