How does Live-in Care work?

Assessment

If you think live-in care would be a good fit for you all you need to do is contact our Bluebird Care Rushcliffe & Melton office and request an assessment. One of our trained assessors will visit you at home, at a time of your choosing and meet with you and any of you family, friends or advocates that you would like to be present.

There is no charge for an assessment and you are under no obligation to arrange care and support with us after having your free of charge assessment with us.

The assessment considers what you are looking for in terms of support and what outcomes you would like to achieve, for example, you may want a live-in care service to support you to remain living in your own home safely so that you do not need to move, or you may find that you are able to remain at home but are not able to be active in your community and need someone to support you with your interests, attending appointments and getting out and about.

The assessment looks at all aspects of your life including your history, your family and friends, what specific tasks you need to be supported with, how you want to be supported with these tasks as well as your home environment.

Based on your assessment your assessor will develop a care plan with you that is personal to you and designed to meet your needs in the way that you have identified you would like them to be met. For more detail on the kind of activities or tasks your care plan can include please refer to our ‘What is Live-in Care?' section and scroll down to 'What type of support do you get with Live-in Care?'

It is sometimes the case that the first few days and weeks of a new care and support service identify things that need to be changed in the care plan and this a normal part of settling into a new care and support routine. Any changes that are needed will be discussed with you in the same way as your initial assessment and changes to the care plan will be with your input and agreement.

Once your care and support has settled into a routine you will still have regular contact from the assessor to review your care and ensure you are happy with your service.

Service Management

A live-in care service with Bluebird Care Rushcliffe & Melton is a fully managed service, this means that we are responsible for arranging and managing all aspects of your care including:

• Assessment.
• Recruitment of your live-in care assistant including all appropriate safe recruitment checks such as references, criminal record checks.
• Training your live-in care assistant to industry standards and beyond.
• Arranging break, annual leave and sickness cover for your regular live-in care assistant.
• Quality monitoring your care service to ensure that you are receiving the high standard of care we expect from all our care assistants.
• We welcome your feedback on any aspect of our service so that we can improve our services and we will regularly ask you for your views on our services including through surveys and regular visits by a member of the management team.
• We have comprehensive policies and procedures for managing risks and to make sure that we provide a safe, high-quality service.
• Signposting you to other services who can help you to maintain your independence at home.
• Communication with other professionals on your behalf (with your consent) or referral to other professionals such as Occupational Therapy and equipment services.
• Ongoing review of your care plan to ensure it is adapted as your needs change to continue to support you to maintain your independence at home.
• We always carry out a risk assessment prior to starting a service. We will agree on how the service that you want can be provided safely and record this in your care plan. If necessary, we will postpone the start of your service until the right equipment is in place to reduce risks. Our care assistants wear disposable gloves and aprons to minimise the risk of crossinfection.

Staffing patterns/Teams

Live-in care arrangements are bespoke to your needs as identified during assessment and review, part of this will include identifying how long it is appropriate for one live-in care assistant to stay with you before they need to take a longer break.

For some live-in care assistants a longer placement is fine and this could mean the same live-in care worker will stay with you for up to 8 weeks before taking a break for a week or so. It is not always possible for longer term placements and in those cases there could be an arrangement where there are a team of live-in care assistants who rotate in and out of your home on weekly placements.

All placements of live-in care assistants are bespoke and arranged on a case by case basis but below are a few examples of how this might work:

Option A:

Live-in care assistant A is identified as the ‘main’ care worker and placements last for 4 weeks (with daily and weekly breaks as standard). After 4 weeks care assistant A takes a break for 1 week and leaves the customers home. Care assistant B moves into the customers home and completes a 1 week placement to provide break cover (with daily and weekly breaks as standard). When care assistant A requests annual leave for a longer period or where care assistant A is unwell care assistant B provides annual leave and sickness cover.

Option B:

Live-in care assistants A and B work on a rotation of one week on and one week off (with daily and weekly breaks as standard). When care assistants A or B request annual leave for a longer period or are unwell care assistant C provides annual leave and sickness cover.

Option C:

Live-in care assistant A is identified as the ‘main’ care worker and placements last for 8 weeks (with daily and weekly breaks as standard). After 8 weeks care assistant A takes a break for 4 weeks and leaves the customers home. Care assistant B moves into the customers home and completes a 4 week placement to provide break cover (with daily and weekly breaks as standard). When care assistant A requests annual leave for a longer period or where care assistant A is unwell care assistant B provides annual leave and sickness cover.

What if I need help 24 hours a day?

We do understand that sometimes people who do not usually need support overnight could occasionally need support throughout the night unexpectedly. If night time care is not part of your care and support plan your live-in care assistant will help you in the event of an emergency or unexpected event during the night. Usually a live-in care assistant would be able to help you once or twice during a single night without this having an impact on their breaks. However, if the care assistants sleep is disturbed more than twice they may need to have longer breaks the following day to ensure they get the rest they need to be able to support you safely. If occasional instances where night time support become more frequent over time it may be necessary to reassess your care and support to arrange for extra support over night.

Some people need to be supported at all times, including through the night. Live-in care is not always a 24 hour service but it can be.

If you do need 24 hour support there are some different ways that this can be done and we will always work with you to find the best way to support you which you are most happy with.

Because all of our care and support is based on an individual assessment there is no one answer to the question ‘what if I need help 24 hours a day’ but below are some examples of ways that you might be supported:

• A live-in care assistant is in place to work from 8am to 8pm. The live-in care assistant takes a break from 2pm to 4pm during which time you are supported by a visiting hourly care assistant. From 8pm to 10pm you are supported by your spouse. From 10pm until 8am you are supported by a visiting hourly care assistant. See Overnight Care Services for more information.

• Two live-in care assistants are in place, one who works from 8am to 8pm (with a daily 2 hour break supported by a visiting hourly care assistants), one who works from 8pm to 8am (with two one hour breaks at times when you do not need support and are sleeping).

Bluebird Care Rushcliffe & Melton's assessors will work with you to find the best combination of support to meet your needs and preferences and ensure you remain safe at home.