Leighton Buzzard 01525 376677
Oxford & Chilterns 01865 744174
Kings Langley 01923 269877
Live-In Care 01525 304676
At 1st Homecare, we will provide an experienced carer who will live in your home with you. You will get the chance to see a profile of the carer and talk to the carer prior to them coming into your home.
The carer will be able to assist you in all aspects of your daily life. If needed, the carer can help you with all your personal care, including assisting with your washing and dressing and toileting needs. The carer can help with menu planning, shopping and meal preparation. If you have medication, the carer can ensure you take the medication as per the prescription. A live-in carer will not only help you to remain as independent as possible in your own home, but they can also look after a beloved pet. A carer can help you maintain your independence and encourage and assist you to visit friends and family. Or even to just get a coffee at a local café. The care involved can vary from a more companionship level to a higher complex level, dependent on your needs and requirements. Visit our Case Studies page to find out more.
The live-in carer will expect to have a room to themselves to allow them privacy to sleep and spend time off in. Ideally, the room should have some form of storage space, fresh clean linen and a TV. Also, as carers use mobile phones or tablets to record the events of the day, then the internet is really important. The carer ideally will shop, cook and eat the same meals with you and therefore you will need to allow a household budget for groceries to include food for the carer.
At 1st Homecare, we have embraced digital technology. Our live-in care clients no longer have written care plan folders in their homes but will have iPads (or their equivalent). This will allow the carers to record all the basics of the day to be covered, such as ensuring that all personal care has been provided, meals have been eaten, medication taken, but also be able to give an account of the day’s events. The carers can record, in real time, who has visited, medical appointments attended, places you went to while socialising – all this information can be recorded onto the tablet and be seen by your next-of-kin via a specialised App. This will give peace of mind to your family members, who may live even in a different country, that all your care needs are being looked after.
Although we work from our three offices in Oxford, Kings Langley and Leighton Buzzard we cover the whole of the South East of England. If you are unsure of distances, please contact us and see if we can cover your area.
Our carers have experience in:
Following your enquiry to 1st Homecare, we will be able to plan a suitable date and time to come and visit you. The Branch Manager will make arrangements with you to complete an assessment of care visit which will help us decide which level of care you will need, how much the care is likely to cost and when we can provide the right carer for you.
We have 3 levels of care: Standard, Enhanced and Complex. Once assessed we will be able to advise you of which level of care you will require. Our carers will be allocated and matched in accordance with the level of experience they have in respect of the level of care you require.
In planning your care, we will also explain how the carers work, when they work and their time off. While our carers will live in your home with you, there are times that they will be ‘off duty’.
Each day the carer will have a 3 hour break – this is decided by you as to what time the break can take place. We know that the same time will not suit everyone and therefore an ideal time can be arranged. As we prefer our clients to have continuity of care, we do not work on a rotational basis like many other providers. We believe that both clients and carers enjoy spending longer periods of time together getting to know each other and building up a relationship and rapport. Due to this many carers choose to work for several weeks without taking a break, so with this in mind, we also give our carers an extra 5 hours once a week in addition to their 3 hours. This 8 hour longer day break, gives the carer the chance to get out and about, visit friends and generally just recharge their batteries.
We will arrange a cover carer to come in and take over for the time your usual carer is away. To allow a smooth handover from one carer to another, we allow them a period of 4 hours to ensure that all aspects of your care will be discussed – even how you prefer your cup of tea. Although you have two carers in your home for this 4 hour period, you will only be charged for one.
We will ensure again that you have a copy of the carers profile and their contact details for you to get in touch with them prior to them arriving at your home.
If you would like more information or to book an assessment, please contact us. A dedicated Manager will be able to advise you and answer any queries you may have. We can then send you a letter/email which will contain all the important information, including the weekly cost of care.
We have found the ‘Better at Home’ report produced by The Live In Care Hub to be an excellent document. It contains lots of information about why Live-In Care can be a real alternative to residental or nursing home care. You can visit their website at www.liveincarehub.co.uk or click here to view and download a copy of the report.
“I just want to sing the praises of ALL mum’s wonderful carers, they are so lovely, kind and patient and mum is building lovely relationships with them all with a little laughter between them too to brighten her day. I’ve already been spreading the word……about your wonderful company. It’s gives me so much peace of mind knowing she is well cared for and looked after by your staff. Thanx again”
Completely satisfied. 100%.
As my Mum’s 24 hour carer, I couldn’t cope, survive without 1st Homecare….It’s like welcoming family into the home every time they visit. We couldn’t rate 1st Homecare higher. Excellent. A big thank you 1st Homecare.
The carers are all amazing and show me kindness and respect.
“Having never dealt with any care providers before we were unsure of the process involved but after speaking to the assessor firstly on the phone and then in person at my parent’s home, we were relieved to find that she could answer all our various concerns. She took the time to discover as much as she could about Mum and her needs. Mum was initially reluctant to have help in the house but has settled quickly into the new routine and tells me quite happily who has visited and how they helped her during the visit. The assessor has kept in regular contact making sure everything is okay and I find the app a real bonus as I can keep an eye on Mum while I’m at work.”
“Please accept my sincere thanks and gratitude for the care shown to Mum by all the staff at 1st Homecare. You made a huge difference to her in the last few weeks of her life. All the carers were kind, considerate and treated mum as an individual. It was always pleasing for me to watch how careful they were with her. She was in a lot of pain & hated being dependent on others. Caring is a vastly underrated profession and you should be congratulated on the quality of the people you have recruited & their training.”
“Throughout the past 18 months or more the company has managed to continue a a constant provision of care throughout the most extreme of circumstances. The pandemic has wrought havoc to commerce and families yet, somehow, 1st Homecare have battled on, bringing social care to those who desperately need it. A huge gratitude of thanks to all involved.”
“I cannot praise the carers too highly, they are without exception not only kind and caring but always cheerful. It’s always a pleasure to see them, they are a breath of fresh air.”
“1st Homecare work extremely hard to assist us as a family. They are easy to contact, informative and helpful. It also makes a huge difference to be able to rely on their punctuality and professionalism. The quality of care has been extremely high and we would recommend 1st Homecare without hesitation.”
“1st Homecare are kind and caring. They have encouraged my Dad to be independent where possible and remain patient when he is struggling. And they are excellent at communicating with me.”