Home care
About home care
Most people value their independence. Some of us need help to
achieve it. That's where home care - also known as domiciliary care
- comes in.
In West Sussex, we work in partnership with people who use our
services, with carers, and with statutory and non-statutory
agencies to plan and deliver home care services.
At every step of the way, we encourage independence and enable
people with a variety of needs to live at home with the best
possible quality of life.
In West Sussex, most of home care is delivered by the
independent sector and only a small part is provided by the County
Council's 'in-house' Regaining Independence Support Service.
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Who gets home care
Increasingly, the home care service is being targeted at people
with more complex needs, for example:
- care to prevent people from being admitted to hospital;
- intensive support after someone is discharged from
hospital;
- specialist support to people with particular needs, such as
those with dementia, physical disabilities or learning
difficulties; and
- support to enable carers to have a short break.
Home care is available night and day, including public holidays and
at weekends. It is a service for people of all age groups who are
assessed as needing support in their own homes in order to remain
independent.
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How a home care worker can help
Throughout the country, nearly a quarter of the staff who work
in social care are employed as home care workers.
Home care does not include nursing care, but there are many
tasks that a home care worker can assist a person with, such
as:
- washing, bathing and dressing;
- going to bed and getting up;
- their nutritional needs;
- their medication and health-related tasks; and
- emotional support.
Home care workers may also be able to help people who have
been ill or disabled to regain their independence so that they
can continue to live in their own homes.
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Keeping disruption to a minimum
You will be given our contact
details and information about what to do in an emergency.
We will also try to make sure that the number of
different home carers you have is kept to a minimum.
When your regular home care worker is not available we
will make other arrangements for you. This may result in another
carer attending or an alteration to the planned visit time, but we
will try our best to keep disruption to a minimum and let you know
what is happening.
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How home care is regulated
The Care
Quality Commission regulates home care services. This
means that they are inspected regularly, and the commission then
produces a report. You can view reports on the commission's website
through the link above.
All staff employed by the County Council are thoroughly
trained to make sure they are able to do their jobs properly.
Our staff also receive more training while on the job. This
leads to a nationally recognised training qualification and makes
sure standards are maintained.
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Charges
How much we charge will vary depending on your financial
situation. For most people the charge will only be a contribution
towards the full cost of the services we provide.
A skilled welfare benefits advisor will work out how much you
will have to pay and tell you about any benefits you might be
entitled to.
There are also other ways of paying for help around the home.
One way is to receive a cash allowance called a direct
payment to pay for help of your choice. Please see our
pages on getting social care support for more
information.
You can find out more about paying for services in the
booklet attached below.
Supporting document
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Getting a service
Please contact
your adults' social care office to find out about getting a
service.
If we agree you need home care we will arrange for
someone to meet you. A plan will be made about how
your care will be provided, and we will carry out a full
assessment to assess any risks involved. We will
then arrange for you to receive regular care.
Should you prefer to find out about getting support from
the independent sector, please contact the ICIS
information service.
Phone: 0800 859929 (Freephone)
Email: enquiries@icis-info4life.org.uk
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