In a nutshell? Whatever you need them to to help and support you to stay living in your own home.
Live-in care is a modern, full-time care solution that allows you to stay at home in familiar, relaxed surroundings with a comfortable routine and everything the way you want it. Live-in care is a realistic alternative to a care home or nursing home.
We offer personalised services for vulnerable adults suffering from any chronic disease or who need assistance throughout the day. We select each carer to match the comfort and convenience of your ageing family member without compromising on the quality are.
When a Client (or their family) feel that they need a bit of extra support, they give us a ring and we arrange to go to the Clients house to meet them. We complete a full assessment on what the Client likes to do, from the minute they get up to the minute they go back to bed, we do a daily timeline to establish how the Clients day normally runs. What time do they like to get up at, do they like to have a wash and get dressed before breakfast or do they prefer to have breakfast in their PJ's sat in their kitchen before they get dressed, what do they like to have for breakfast. And so on for the rest of the day. Once this information is gathered, we have a quick look around the Clients home to make sure there are no risks (such as steps that could lead to a fall). We then go back to TGEM HQ to draw up a Care Plan. Once the Care Plan is completed, we go back to the Client and go through it with them to make sure that we've got everything write and they are happy that we know what and how they like to spend their days and what care they need.
The next step is to find the Client a Live-in Carer. All of our Live-in's have a minimum of 12 months experience of working as a live-in carer. They have all been through our rigorous vetting system which includes a police check and references. They have all completed T-GEM Healthcare's intensive training courses and spent a day at TGEM HQ learning all about how we like to do things, what we expect from our staff, and what our staff can expect from us. This process enables us to get to know the Live-in Carers so we get a good idea of their personality and who they are. Once this stage has been completed, we then know which Live-in Carers would work with which Clients.
We normally work on a 3 week on/3 week off basis so each Client is allocated two Live-in Carers who work opposite each other - one works for three weeks, then the other works for three weeks. However, some live-in carers like to work a different rota system and as we value our staff, we work with them to make sure they work the system that they prefer.
Prior to the service starting, we arrange for the Client to meet their Live-in Carers. That can either be done face-to-face or on-line of the Live-in Carer is on another placement and can't get to meet the Client face-to-face. We introduce the Client and the live-in carers and then leave them for 10-15 minutes whilst they have a chat and start to bond. This has proved to be a huge success as it can be quite worrisome for Clients to accept they need help and to let a stranger move into their home to give them that help. By the end of the 10-15 minutes, the Client is relaxed and looking forward to welcoming their new friends into their home.
Also at this introduction meeting, we go through the Care Plan with the Live-in Carers so they know exactly how the Client likes to spend their day and what care and support they need. This helps prepare the Live-in Carers and helps them understand what their new role will entail.
On day one of the service, T-GEM management meet the Live-in Carer at the Clients home to help them settle and to make sure that the new service starts of smoothly. We are then in constant contact with the Live-in Carer for the first few days to make sure they are OK and that the Client is OK. We liaise with the Client (and their family) to regularly during the first month to make sure they are happy with how the service is progressing.
The Live-in Carer should get a two hour break every day. This is protected time that they should get with no interruptions, no requests for running errands, no requests for help. It is hard work being on call 24/7 so Live-in Carers must get this break every day. Whether family members stay with the Client for the two hours each day or T-GEM can place another Carer in with the Client for the two hours, as long as they get the break.
During the night, the Client must not waken the Live-in Carer more than twice. Again, it can be hard going living with somebody and providing their care and not getting enough sleep. We want to provide the highest standard of care possible to every Client and if the Live-in Carer is exhausted, this isn't going to happen. If the Client wakes the Live-in Carer up more than twice a night, then we would need to look at putting another carer in to do night shifts.
And that is how are Live-in Service works. The priority is helping our Clients to stay living in the comfort of their own home, surrounded by all their memories, all that is familiar to them. We aim to promote independence, choice, dignity and confidence.
If you would like to have a chat about our Live-in Service, then give us a ring on 028 4372 4377.