A quick guide for people who arrange their own home care.
You will find this quick guide useful if you are paying for care yourself or receiving direct payments from your local authority.
80% of people using home care services are over 65 and the number of people funding their own care is expected to grow over the coming years.
What can you expect from a good home care service?
- The care you get should reflect what you want and what you have agreed with the agency. The care should take into account what you feel you can do and what you want to be able to do.
- Your care worker should respect your cultural and religious values (regarding food, for example) and make sure that your needs are met.
- Your care agency should let you know in advance if a different care worker is coming to visit you.
- You should have a home care plan that describes the care the agency will be providing and is focused on the things that are important to you. If you have specific health problems or disabilities the plan should take these into account.
- You should feel comfortable around your care workers. They should get to know you and be familiar with your needs including how you like to communicate and your likes and dislikes.
- Your care workers should have the right skills to meet your needs. They should be able to support you, for example if you have dementia, are deaf, blind or deafblind, or need help coping with bereavement.
- You should have a care diary to keep in your home. Home care workers and others who help you at home (like community nurses and physiotherapists) should update it every time they visit.
- The agency should review the plan with you within six weeks of your first care visit to make sure that you are happy with it. After that, the plan should be reviewed at least once a year.
Your home care plan
The home care plan should be clear and concise and include information about:
Your health, medicines and pain management.
Keeping you safe.
Skin care and other support to help you stay well.
What will happen if your home care worker is late, or unable to visit you.
Information available to you
Your local council social services department should tell you how you can find information about the care services available in your area. They may also suggest other options, such as:
Employing a live-in care worker.
Employing a personal assistant.
Using telecare.
Find information about home care services in your area by using:
- NHS Choices for home care services
- Care Quality Commission to find services in your local authority area
- United Kingdom Homecare Association for information on choosing care at home.
If you have direct payments, your local council social services department should give you the support and information you need to manage your payments effectively.
What to do if you are not happy with the standard of your home care
Step 1
Try an informal approach first. Explain to the agency why you are not happy with your care and what you would like to happen to make it better.
Step 2
If this doesn’t work, the next step is to make a formal complaint. The agency should have their complaints procedure on their website and in other formats, such as leaflets.
Step 3
If you are in receipt of a direct payment and are not satisfied with the agency response, you can complain to your local authority.
Step 4
If you are not satisfied with the agency’s or local authority’s response to your complaint, you can ask the Local Government Ombudsman to investigate.
Step 5
Step 5: You can also raise your concerns with the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC regulates home care in England.
Making a complaint can be stressful, so you could ask for support from a friend, family member or advocate. You can get information about advocacy from social services.
Useful links
- NICE guideline: Home care: delivering personal care and practical support to older
people living in their own homes. - NICE guidance: Home care: delivering personal care and practical support to older. people living in their own homes – information for the public.
- NICE quality standard: Home care for older people.
- Age UK: How to find the help you need at home.
- NHS Choices: Care services in your home.
- NHS Choices: Paying for your own care and support.
- United Kingdom Homecare Association: Code of practice for provider members.
- The Care Quality Commission: What can you expect from a good home care agency?
- Think local act personal: Care and support jargon buster.
- Shared lives plus website.
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This content has been co-produced by NICE and the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). It is based on NICE's quality standard on home care for older people and guideline on home care.