Personal homecare

Personal homecare is help with the personal tasks you cannot manage alone in order to enable you to carry on living at home. This might be tasks such as getting in and out of bed, getting dressed, going to the toilet, washing, eating, taking medication or going out.

Choosing a homecare provider

Homecare organisations must be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and you should ask to see a copy of their latest inspection report.

Be clear what you want the homecare staff to help you with:

• what times they'll come
• what tasks they will and won't do
• which staff will come (always the same? male or female staff?)
• what you can do if you're not happy with the service.

If you are eligible for publicly-funded care and support, this sort of information should be in your support plan. 

Standards

Homecare organisations should work to set standards and you can ask for a copy of these. They may be part of the organisation's statement of purpose. Some have agreed to meet Adult Social Care's service standards, which include:

• All visits should be within 30 minutes (either side) of the agreed time
• You should be advised of any changes to the time or visiting care worker
• A small team of care workers should be assigned to carry out the service, so that you have consistency and reliability
• Accurate records should be kept of the time the visits were carried out and what was done by the care worker
• You should have contact details of the local branch and also have been made aware how to complain if you need to
• What medicines care workers can help you with and how they can help

How to use homecare?

You can contact a homecare provider directly, or you can ask Adult Social Care for an assessment. 

How much does homecare cost?

The organisations that have agreed to meet Adult Social Care service standards have also agreed to charge no more than our set prices.

How much help will you get if you make your own arrangements?

If you decide to make your own arrangements, without a social care assessment, neither Adult Social Care, not Salford City Council will be able to help you and you will have to pay the full cost of the homecare.

If you are thinking of making your own arrangements, you should talk to an independent financial adviser, to see if this is the best option for you.

If you are eligible for publicly-funded care and support, the council will need to find out about your finances, to work out how much it can help you with.

Adult social care is now provided by Northern Care Alliance