Choosing a Home Care Provider – What you Need to Know
If you or a loved one need respite care after surgery or ongoing care for chronic illness, you may be ...If you or a loved one need respite care after surgery or ongoing care for chronic illness, you may be considering enlisting the help of a home care company.
Whether you’re planning to enlist the help of an agency or hire a personal home help, knowing what questions to ask is essential to receiving high quality assistance.
We have put together a list of questions you should review when making this important decision.
The Company
- How long have they been in business?
- Are they members of an association that promotes standards of care? (e.g. Home and Community Care Ireland)
- How do they select and train their carers? (background checks etc.)
- Can they provide references from previous clients?
- What are the costs?
- What services do they provide? It often more important to know what services they don’t provide.
- What tax relief is available on the costs? Is there any financial assistance available?
- Do they provide a written care plan?
- Do they have supervisors who monitor their carers to ensure high quality?
- What is their policy for emergencies?
Your Needs
- Do you need medical / nursing care?
- Do you need dementia care?
- What precise support services do you need?
- Do you need transportation to appointments / for shopping etc.?
- Do you need medication management?
- Have you any specific dietary needs that will need to be taken care of?
The Carer
- What are their skills and qualifications?
- Are they fluent in English or your native language?
- What is their temperament / nature like?
- Have they any personal references from previous clients?
The home care market is growing every year in Ireland.
We hope this checklist will help assist you in finding the care provider that is right for you and your loved one.
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Looking for homecare for my elderly parents, my mother has dementia which at present can still recognise us its just her short term memory that is affected, and my father has mobility problems.and some other health issues. They live in Mullingar town. The family have been taking it in turns to stay the week and help out. My question is it possible to have a live-in for one week or two week during the month and the family can fill in the remainder of month. How much would it cost? regards Donna
Hi Donna. We’re sorry to hear of your situation. It must be very challenging for everyone.
You may be able to secure a home care package for some assistance. There are more details on the HSE website. You can download an application form here: https://www.hse.ie/eng/services/list/4/olderpeople/homecarepackages/ and then the HSE will carry out a Care Needs Assessment.
For Live-In care, you may need to consider a private provider local to you. We have many listed here: https://seniorcare2017.wpengine.com/home-care-home-help/
Live-In care is quite expensive. You would need to contact individual companies for their rates.
Age Action have an excellent helpline which may be valuable to you. You can see all free helplines here: https://seniorcare2017.wpengine.com/helplines-information-services/
We hope this helps!
Conor