Hourly charges for Home Care?

[love.dad.but..]

hi @Lemondrizzle
daft isn't .... maybe let the care agency know that you are happy for your mum to have a choice, between which of 2 meals she has, or whether she has a sandwich or meal for lunch leaving the remaining option for evening meal

The second live in carer I tried for dad with everything provided for a cooked meal each day...
Me..politely asked what she made dad for dinner the day before

Carer...I asked your dad if he wanted a sandwich instead of dinner and he didn't know or answer so I made a sandwich

Me...it should be clear to you from your few days with dad that he doesn't understand if you are asking him if he wants to eat chicken or a shoe for dinner and as I asked...don't ask dad just choose what you want to make as a hot meal once a day as he can't ask for food and doesn't know he is hungry until the plate of dinner is in front of him

That formed part of many reasons and concerns I had and why she was asked to leave by me...her lack of being proactive, using common sense and having minimal dementia expertise not as she and the agency promised denied dad the only chance of him having an important hot meal...I was so cross

Edit..correcting predictive text

 

[witts1973]

That has been very illuminating, so thank you everyone.

My mother is not bed bound, but she is 'housebound' in that she never goes out by choice. She does not need help with personal care, only medications/meal times and light cleaning (washing up, laundering her smalls and floor sweeping).

I live too far from my mother to call on her regularly, but friends who do live locally are going in twice each week to check on her. They report the short stays by the carers, the fact that she only ever seems to be given toast & marmalade. Fresh food (which I buy online and have delivered each week) is stacking up in her fridge and has to be thrown away as it has exceeded the 'use before' dates. So, I am not confident that she is being cared for as the company originally claimed to do.

Now that I know her charges are actually reasonable by national standards, I will still look elsewhere but bear in mind that the costs will be similar. It's not the cost that bothers me, it's the poor standard of care she gets for that weekly charge.

I thought that was for 2 carers,yes that is expensive

 

[witts1973]

The second live in carer I tried for dad with everything provided for a cooked meal each day...
Me..politely asked what she made dad for dinner the day before

Carer...I asked your dad if he wanted a sandwich instead of dinner and he didn't know or answer so I made a sandwich

Me...it should be clear to you from your few days with dad that he doesn't understand if you are asking him if he wants to eat chicken or a shoe for dinner and as I asked...don't ask dad just choose what you want to make as a hot meal once a day as he can't ask for food and doesn't know he is hungry until the plate of dinner is in front of him

That formed part of many reasons and concerns I had and why she was asked to leave by me...her lack of being proactive, using common sense and having minimal dementia expertise not as she and the agency promised denied dad the only chance of him having an important hot meal...I was so cross

Edit..correcting predictive text

Yes the carer has posed that as a question to enable her to follow the easiest route,That's so familiar

 

[witts1973]

Unfortunately as carers aren't paid travel time or at least most aren't some of them will rush the job to use your time as travel time so they have a continual flow of paid hours

 

[Sirena]

I too was wondering if a small freezer would be a possibility. But it sounds as if Sid is only expecting the carers to make sandwiches or egg on toast, rather than constant toast and marmalade. However, it could be that his mother's tastes have changed, which tends to happen as dementia advances. My grandmother and mother both had/have dementia and I found they both started to refuse foods they previously loved.

As the carers have very limited time, they will take the line of least resistance which is to give her what she wants and will eat, rather than make her something different which she might refuse. My mother's carers didn't 'remove her choices'(!) but they would make a suggestion and she'd agree (or not), or they would give her a choice of x or y and she'd choose from that. But they had the luxury of plenty of time in which to do it.

 

[witts1973]

If they are in such a hurry scrambled eggs/poached eggs on toast or beans on toast at least would offer fiber and protein

 

[maryjoan]

my mother doesn't have a freezer (or room for a freezer) so ready meals are not possible.

I am sure you are right about the carers asking her what she wants - she loves toast and marmalade and several cuppas - so I can well imagine her asking them to prepare this. However, surely their commonsense should kick in and realise that toast & marmalade for every meal is not good (she is getting through 3 jars a week).

Leaving post-its is a great idea but that only works if you are near enough to leave these notes. I am a 400 mile round trip away, with a serious illness of my own, so cannot visit much more than every 8-10 weeks.

I have bought cheese, eggs, ham slices, beef slices, tomatoes, branston pickle so that sandwiches can be made, and also lots of tinned soups to go with the sandwich. However, it's these fresh items which are being thrown away after the use by date has expired, plus the carers never leave any record in a journal as to what she has been fed on each visit. Their system is electronic and I am not allowed to view it.

The carers that come here for my partner, tell me they are allowed to ask as in "Would you like a shower?" " Do you want your bed changing?" etc - if the answer is "No" then that is all they can do. They could ask Mum " What do you want for lunch?" and if she wants toast and marmalade - that is what they have to do. Even a choice between 2 items could be too confusing for Mum.

You are in a very tricky situation - maybe it is time to start considering a care home, as you are not in a situation to supervise Mum in her own home......

 

[Lemondrizzle]

The sad thing is we only started having issues with the carers when a new one started and to be honest the issue is only with two of them. The others are brilliant, ring me direct if they have a problem (like MIL won't take her tablets or go to bed) and we have a good rapport with them. I discussed the choices issue some time ago with a supervisor who confirmed the approach should be a choice of the meals in her freezer, not between a hot meal and sandwich. Most of the carers are able to cajole mum without any pressure to fall into what needs to be done at any given time. Using the changing bed example (which I actually do anyway although they will make it every day) it doesn't even need to be a question more "oh its time to change the bed, lets go and strip it" and she happily toddles along beside to do whatever it is.

@Rambling Sid At the start of mum needing care, we were told that it was for us to indicate what we would like the carers to do which was working fine up until a couple of weeks ago. If we need something done and my OH and I can't get there to do it ourselves I send an e-mail or ring their office and they can let the carer know before she visits. Would that be an option for you. Also, I had to be registered onto the app system to view the logs and we received a letter indicating that is what they were changing to from the paper sheets. Are you being told you really cannot see it or have they just not registered you? My concern for you is that the app we have access to has GPS so the care company can see where the carer is and what time they actually arrived and left. I would have serious concerns about the length of carers' visits if they were refusing access to the app.

 

[witts1973]

The sad thing is we only started having issues with the carers when a new one started and to be honest the issue is only with two of them. The others are brilliant, ring me direct if they have a problem (like MIL won't take her tablets or go to bed) and we have a good rapport with them. I discussed the choices issue some time ago with a supervisor who confirmed the approach should be a choice of the meals in her freezer, not between a hot meal and sandwich. Most of the carers are able to cajole mum without any pressure to fall into what needs to be done at any given time. Using the changing bed example (which I actually do anyway although they will make it every day) it doesn't even need to be a question more "oh its time to change the bed, lets go and strip it" and she happily toddles along beside to do whatever it is.

@ Rambling Sid.At the start of mum needing care, we were told that it was for us to indicate what we would like the carers to do which was working fine up until a couple of weeks ago. If we need something done and my OH and I can't get there to do it ourselves I send an e-mail or ring their office and they can let the carer know before she visits. Would that be an option for you. Also, I had to be registered onto the app system to view the logs and we received a letter indicating that is what they were changing to from the paper sheets. Are you being told you really cannot see it or have they just not registered you? My concern for you is that the app we have access to has GPS so the care company can see where the carer is and what time they actually arrived and left. I would have serious concerns about the length of carers' visits if they were refusing access to the app.

My mum had calls where two carers were supposed to turn up but sometimes just 1 carer turned up but the other would log in historically on the APP (At a later time) even though that person hadn't even turned up at my house!

 

[Cazzita]

I feel really blessed with the local, private company that I am using for my mum (Northants), they are SO caring and she absolutely loves them. They always ask her what she wants to do and do it So far so good...
The charges are £16:50 per hour - they don't do half hours as they say it is just not enough time so mum has 2 x 1 hour visits per day, weekdays. They also take her for a drive aroud the local reservoir which mum loves, this costs an additional 40p per mile. I will see when I get the first month's bill in whether anything needs changing but feel that they are all fantastic and very, very caring.
The costs would be more for weekends and bank holidays but while I am around, that's not necessary. Good luck to anyone looking for carers, I would recommend a very small company - only about 6 carers employed - but they are all fabulous and well treated by their employer, who is also a carer for her clients.

 

[witts1973]

I feel really blessed with the local, private company that I am using for my mum (Northants), they are SO caring and she absolutely loves them. They always ask her what she wants to do and do it So far so good...
The charges are £16:50 per hour - they don't do half hours as they say it is just not enough time so mum has 2 x 1 hour visits per day, weekdays. They also take her for a drive aroud the local reservoir which mum loves, this costs an additional 40p per mile. I will see when I get the first month's bill in whether anything needs changing but feel that they are all fantastic and very, very caring.
The costs would be more for weekends and bank holidays but while I am around, that's not necessary. Good luck to anyone looking for carers, I would recommend a very small company - only about 6 carers employed - but they are all fabulous and well treated by their employer, who is also a carer for her clients.

That's lovely,I'm pleased that you have found a good company that looks after your mother very well,Its nice that she gets to go out and about,it must give you great piece of mind x

 

[Cazzita]

That's lovely,I'm pleased that you have found a good company that looks after your mother very well,Its nice that she gets to go out and about,it must give you great piece of mind x

Thank you @witts1973 , it really does make a difference. I definitely don't feel like I have to worry about any of them and they are all very local too, all mature and genuinely lovely. However, if mum didn't have any money, it might be a different story. Very thankful right now

 

[witts1973]

Thank you @witts1973 , it really does make a difference. I definitely don't feel like I have to worry about any of them and they are all very local too, all mature and genuinely lovely. However, if mum didn't have any money, it might be a different story. Very thankful right now

It's nice that you have some mature carers my mum has 2 that appear now and again that are 65,they have had kids,seen life and have a lots to offer,mum also has a girl that is 25 who is lovely natured and always goes back to the bed after she has written the notes and squeezes my mothers hand for a moment before she leaves

 

[Cazzita]

It's nice that you have some mature carers my mum has 2 that appear now and again that are 65,they have had kids,seen life and have a lots to offer,mum also has a girl that is 25 who is lovely natured and always goes back to the bed after she has written the notes and squeezes my mothers hand for a moment before she leaves

Lovely to hear this. It's definitely a job for a certain type of person and it looks like we are lucky in finding them xx

 

[Cazzita]

It's nice that you have some mature carers my mum has 2 that appear now and again that are 65,they have had kids,seen life and have a lots to offer,mum also has a girl that is 25 who is lovely natured and always goes back to the bed after she has written the notes and squeezes my mothers hand for a moment before she leaves

It also reminds me that young people feel that 'old' people know nothing, but actually, they know everything