Independence, choice and dignity appear on every home care website in the country, including, until recently, ours. Used carelessly they mean nothing. Used properly they describe things you can actually check.
Here is what each one should look like in a real house on a real Tuesday, and the question to ask to find out whether a provider means it.
Independence means doing less for someone, not more
The fastest way to make someone dependent is to do everything for them because it is quicker. A carer who washes someone in ten minutes has saved ten minutes and cost that person a skill.
Real independence support is slower and it is deliberate. It means standing by while someone does their own buttons. It means the care plan saying what the person still does for themselves, and protecting it.
Ask: what does your care plan say my mother can still do for herself, and how do you make sure carers do not take that over?
Choice means being able to say no
Choice is not a menu of services. It is whether the person can decline something on the day without it becoming a problem.
It also means choosing the carer. A provider who will not let you meet someone before they start, or who treats "we would like someone else" as a complaint, does not really offer choice.
And it means choosing the time. A visit at 7am because that is what suited the rota is not a choice, and it is the single most common complaint about home care in this country.
Dignity is mostly about time and doors
Dignity is not a value on a poster. In practice it is: the bathroom door closed, the curtains shut, being dressed before anyone else arrives, being asked rather than told, and not being talked over to the person standing next to you.
Almost all of it requires time. A fifteen-minute call cannot deliver dignity, because everything above takes longer than fifteen minutes. This is why our minimum visit is an hour, and why we would rather lose an enquiry than agree to less.
Six questions that reveal what a provider is really like
- What is your shortest visit, and why?
- Can we meet the carer before care starts, and can we say no?
- How many different carers would come in a typical month?
- What happens if we ring at 8pm on a Sunday?
- What is in the care plan about what my father still does himself?
- Tell me about something that went wrong recently and what you changed.
The last one is the most useful question you can ask anybody in this industry. A provider who cannot think of anything either is not paying attention or is not being straight with you.
How to check the rest
Look the provider up on the CQC website — every registered provider has a page, and it tells you what they are registered to do and what any inspection found. Ask for the complaints policy before you need it. And ask who owns the company, because it tells you what the business is actually for.
We are family run and CQC registered, and we have not been inspected yet. We would rather tell you that plainly than let you find out later.
Want to talk it through?
Ring us on 0161 531 3233. Plenty of people call once for advice and never become clients, and that is a fine outcome.
