Reassurance in these difficult times

Our care teams are still delivering excellent standards of care. That hasn’t changed. As a homecare company, everything we are doing is about safety. If anything, we are going beyond what we need to do. For instance, our care staff are using facemasks that are a higher spec than required by government guidelines and we are constantly reviewing what our clients and carers should be doing to maintain safety and minimise risks. 

Local lockdowns, Tier Levels, coronavirus information, Test and Trace and now an England lockdown – all of these heighten the public’s anxiety and can cause a lot of confusion. That is why we have made sure that at PerCurra we have established links with people at key organisations such as Local Authorities and Public Health England. We know the right medical questions to ask and who to go to get the answers. All through the pandemic our aim has been to remain up to date with changing advice and, at times, be ahead of it.

These days, when we take on a care package for a new client, there are extra steps in our process. The first step in a phone conversation. We discuss the needs and wishes of the client (whether with them directly or in some cases with their partner or relative). Following this, one of our senior staff visits the client’s home to develop their care plan and carry out a risk assessment. Now we have added an additional risk assessment around COVID – if the client has recently spent time in hospital we need to know their COVID test results, if they are in a high risk group health-wise we would make recommendations for starting our service with them. Plus, we limit the number of staff visiting the client’s home so rather than for instance, a Care Manager going there to discuss the care plan, it would be the Care Co-ordinator who would go as they will be part of that client’s regular care team. Everything we do is individual to that client’s situation with the aim of keeping them and our staff members safe.

The main thing we are finding at the minute is that the whole country is on hyper-alert. It’s stressful because people are worried about different things. Someone looking after a vulnerable adult may not want to out shopping because they may ‘bring the virus back’. We will do everything possible to not have our clients and their families feel that added stress. As always, if we can do anything extra we will. For example, one of our care staff may be visiting to deliver personal care to a client but his wife is worried about popping to shops. So we will just ask the next carer to do it on their way in. We have always been able to do it this but now with people being frightened to go out of the house, we do these things all the time. We would never normally want to take away independent things like going to shop but just now things are different. We want to help people manage their fears.

If all this strikes a chord because you, or someone you care for, needs extra support in the home please don’t worry about taking the next step. It costs nothing but a bit of time to pick the phone up and have a chat with a member of our expert homecare team. We can talk you through your own situation and, even if we can’t help with delivering care, we can reassure you that you are doing the right thing or we can signpost you to what you need. 

Please, if you are stressed or feeling like you are unable to cope yourself or with caring duties, do not feel alone – we are here for you. 

Best wishes and keep safe.