Rebuilding Confidence After a Difficult Personal Care Experience
Why a Personal Care Experience May Feel Difficult
Maintaining hygiene is essential for our physical and emotional wellbeing. However, if you have to rely on someone else to carry this out for you it my feel difficult at first, especially if you are in discomfort or you don’t know the person. Our carers work hard to put you at ease though right from day one, thanks to your detailed support plan that contains your requirements, down to the smallest detail.
Physical Discomfort or a Fall
If you’ve had a fall, you may be in pain due to injuries sustained. If the person conducting your personal care does not take this into account, they may inadvertently cause you additional discomfort.
Feeling Embarrassed or Exposed
People worry about a loss of dignity when someone else conducts your personal care, but you should always remain in control. If you want to be covered up your carer should respect that and ensure you’re comfortable.
Loss of Control During the Visit
Your carer should always put you at the centre of your care experience, whatever task they’re undertaking. This person-centre approach should ensure that you always remain in control of your personal care.
How a Negative Experience Can Affect Confidence
If you’ve experienced a difficult personal care experience it’s understandable why you would hesitate to have care again, however maintaining personal care is essential to ensure you remain in good physical and emotional health.
Talking Through What Happened
Explaining how much your experience affected you and how you want to avoid it ever happening again, will ensure your care provider prioritises your comfort at all times, as we always do at Helping Hands.
Making Gradual Adjustments to the Care Routine
Making mutually acceptable, gradual adjustments to the care plan will ensure that you are always in control of your routine and happy with the care being provided. Open communication is key at all times.
Increasing Choice and Involvement
To keep you at the centre of your care experience, you should always be given the choice as to how your care progresses and how involved you are. We keep our customers as involved as they want to be.
Improving Consistency and Communication
Having the same small team of carers coming to your home each day – or a carer living in – provides a level of consistency and commitment which improves communication and maintains your routine.
When to Review the Personal Care Plan
Your personal care plan will be reviewed regularly to ensure that it is still suitable for your needs. Helping Hands always review your care plan at appropriate intervals or if any aspect of your care needs change.
Signs Extra Support May Be Needed
If it becomes obvious to your carer that your condition is deteriorating, or if any of your treatment has changed, you have the reassurance that your carer will report that to their manager without hesitation, or to a relevant healthcare professional.
Adjusting the Environment or Equipment
Your carer and local managers will work seamlessly with your wider healthcare team to ensure that any recommendations made for your continuing care are adhered to. Whatever we can do to keep you comfortable, we will.
Seeking Professional Advice
If your carer has any concerns at all that your condition has deteriorated, or that things have changed in any way, they will contact their managers and your GP if necessary, or if it’s a serious concern, the emergency services.
How Helping Hands Supports Safe and Respectful Personal Care at Home
At Helping Hands we’ve been supporting our customers to live well at home since 1989, so it’s no surprise we’re considered the UK’s most trusted private home care provider. We support people with every aspect of their practical and emotional support, including personal care, meal preparation, and companionship.
Our carers are special people who truly want the very best for their customers and work tirelessly to make sure that happens. We’ll always put your wellbeing at the forefront of what we do, including ensuing your personal care is carried out with the utmost respect. We provide support on both a visiting and live-in care basis, tailored personally to you.
How to arrange care with Helping Hands
We try to make arranging care simple and stress-free so that we can focus on what really matters: your care needs. Speak to our team today to begin your journey.
Speak to our team
Our friendly, knowledgeable team can answer your questions and talk you through your options. We are available 7 days a week.
Book a free care assessment
Your local Helping Hands care manager will visit you to understand your needs and preferences and discuss how we can help. We can visit you at home, in hospital or even a care home to carry out the care assessment.
Confirm your care package
We create a tailored care plan for you to review. Once you’ve agreed the plan, we can organise care in as little as 24 hours.