Welcome To Wirral

The Domiciliary Care Service

Esher House, Esher Close Beechwood, CH43 9XL

 

About the service

The Local Authority Domiciliary Care Service is available to residents within the boundaries of the Wirral Council, an area, which ranges from New Brighton and Hoylake in the North, to Heswall and Eastham in the south. The Home Care service provides care to a range of service user groups including:

• Older people
• People with a physical disability
• People with sensory loss, including dual sensory impairment
• People with mental health problems

We aim to enable people to remain independently in their own home and to support and supplement the work of informal carers and family.

Home Care staff are likely to be working jointly with the person needing assistance, encouraging them to do as much as possible for themselves in order to maintain their independence and physical ability, but may also be involved in directly providing care.

For those who need it the service is available daily from 7.30am, to 10.30pm, including weekends and bank holidays.

 

Granville Court

In partnership with Housing 21 and Lonsdale Trust, we also provide a 24-hour Domiciliary Care Service to a very sheltered housing scheme at Granville Court.

 

Wirral Home Assessment Reablement Team (Wirral HART)

Wirral HART is a short term assessment and enablement service which is provided for one to three weeks but may continue for a maximum of six weeks depending on your progress.

The service is provided by health professionals and social care staff who will assess you in your home, to get a clearer idea of your needs and help you regain your independence

If you wish to benefit from this service, it is important that you understand that the aim will be to encourage you to do as many things for yourself as possible.

 

Philosophy of Care

We aim to:

• To provide a flexible service which meets the needs of individuals.
• To promote independence and enable service users to remain in their own home for as long as possible, in accordance with their own needs and preferences.
• To offer protection to vulnerable people at risk.
• To promote good working practice with our colleagues in health and other areas of social care to provide service users with the best possible service.

Ways that we can help

We can provide help with a range of day to day tasks such as:

• Getting up and going to bed
• Dressing and undressing.
• Preparing drinks and meals
• Paying bills and collecting pensions
• Shopping
• Helping with essential household tasks
• Help with bathing
• Help with toileting/continence care

• Monitoring of prescribed medication

How to access our services

To receive a Domiciliary care service from us you will first need to be assessed by a Care Manager from Social Services who will help you to work out what your care needs are and will discuss with you the best ways in which they might be met. If you are at home you can ask for a Care Manager to visit you by contacting the Central Advice and Duty Team on 0151 606 2006 (phone) or 0151 666 5259 (Minicom). If you are in hospital you can request to see a social worker who can also arrange services for you.

 

Charging for our services

If the Local Authority is purchasing a service on your behalf you may have to pay something towards the costs. Before you are charged Social Services will carry out a financial assessment to work out the amount you will have to pay. They will also check that you are receiving all of the appropriate benefits that you may be entitled to, if not they can help you claim any other benefits after carrying out your financial assessment. Social Services will write to tell you what your charge for your services will be. You will be able to pay the charges in a number of ways including standing order and at any Post Office or Local Authority payment office.

 

Starting your service

If you have been assessed, as requiring our service an organiser from the Domiciliary Care Service will visit you at home either prior to or at the start of the service

The visit to your home will allow the staff member to discuss with you how the service will meet your needs and will tell you the name of the staff member(s) who will be visiting you. They will also provide you with a service user file, which contains important information about your service

The organiser who visits also has a responsibility under health and safety law for the staff members who will be working in your home. The organiser will need to check that your home provides a safe working environment and will therefore carry out the appropriate assessment. This does not mean that we can not provide you with a service but it may mean that we need to advise staff to take precautions or used specified equipment before undertaking certain tasks. For example if the assessment suggested we might advise staff to use specialist equipment when assisting you to bathe. The Home Care staff undertaking any care tasks within your home are covered by the appropriate Public Liability and other relevant insurances.

 

Staffing

The Domiciliary Care staff employed by the local authority are recruited via a vigorous process and are required to have both an induction and probationary period. In addition they are expected to undertake ongoing training & development in the relevant NVQ awards. Staff will not be asked to undertake any activities for which they have not been appropriately trained. Annual appraisals of the work of care staff take place as part of the quality assurance process.

The organisers of the service are also qualified and experienced in this area of work and regularly supervise the staff visiting your home.

 

Our Values

• Domiciliary Care Staff must see service users as individuals in their own right and treat them with respect and dignity at all times.
• The Care needs wishes preferences and personal goals for each individual service user must be followed.

Our Aims

• Service users feel that they are treated with respect and as a valued person whose right to privacy is upheld.
• Service user’s are helped to exercise choice and control over their lives and supported in maintaining their independence.
• As much as possible service user’s are assisted to maintain independence and responsibility for important areas in their lives such as finances and management of medication

 

Our Standards

We will give you details of your service including contact numbers

• We will give you details of your Domiciliary Care plan including the tasks to be completed by staff
• You will know the name of the persons who are coming to help you, except in times of annual leave or sickness.
• We will endeavor to keep the number of Domiciliary Care Staff involved in your care to a minimum
• The people who come to your home to help you with your personal care needs are trained and competent to do these tasks
• Your domiciliary care needs will be reviewed within four to six weeks of the start of the service and then at least once a year after this
• In addition to the above we will give you details of how you might request any additional review of your needs
• We will give you information about how the quality of the service is monitored, including how your views and your carers views will be taken into account
• We will give you information about how you and your carer can access the complaints procedures
• We will give you a contract and terms and conditions for the provision of the service
• You and your carer will be told how to access copies of inspection reports relating to this service.

 

Quality, compliments & complaints

We are continuously trying to improve our service and would like to hear your views. We will do this informally when the service organiser periodically visits your home to check that you are happy with the service, and we may also send out a questionnaire, which will ask for your views about the service.

In addition you should feel free to contact the organiser at any time to comment on the service you are receiving, and discuss any concerns you may have, or indeed tell us if you think we are doing anything particularly well.

If you feel that an informal discussion has not resolved a particular issue that you have raised you will be given information about how to make a formal complaint. There is a leaflet available in your service user file, which tells you how to do this or contact Social Services Complaints officer on 0151 – 666 – 4787.

This service is registered with the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI). This means that the service must meet minimum standards as set down in regulations. The CSCI regularly inspect the service and a copy of their report is available for you to read from the manager of the service. The regulations also state that we produce a Statement of Purpose, which tells you more about your service, and the way it is organised. A copy of which is available to service users by ringing 0151 641 8905 or 0151 641 8903

The commission also investigates complaints against registered services and reports to the Government on the range and quality of regulated services.

Contact details of the local and national office are as follows:

Commission for Social Care Inspection (National Office)

33 Greycoat Street, London SW1P 2QF

Tel: 0207 979 2000 Fax: 0207 979 2111

Commission for Social Care Inspection (Regional Office)

3rd Floor Campbell Square 10 Duke Street Liverpool L1 5AS

Tel: 0151 705 2000 Fax: 0151 705 2046

 

Confidentiality

Any information that you give to us as a requirement of the service provided to you will be held in strictest confidence, and in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998. Your service user personal file will provide more information about the confidentiality policy of this service.

 

Medication & Health related tasks

The national standards state that domiciliary care staff should only provide assistance with taking medication or undertake other health related tasks, when it is within their competence: furthermore, they have received any necessary specialist training and is:

• With the signed agreement of the user or their representative
• Clearly requested on the care plan by a named assessor and agreed in the service user plan
• With the agreement of the prescribing practitioner
• With the agreement of their Line Manager

Staff must never administer prescribed injections, pessaries, enemas, suppositories or homely remedies.

Community based staff must not administer tablets or liquid medication that has been removed from a Pharmacists bottle or other container. Staff may only assist with medication from a blister pack. The blister pack must have a Pharmacists label detailing, the name of the service user, the date when the medication was dispensed, the quantity of the medication and full instructions as to the dosage. Liquid medicine must be dispensed in pre measured dosages e.g. Oromorph unit dose phials which are available from a Pharmacist.

Assistance with finances

If your domiciliary care program indicates that staff need to undertake financial transactions on your behalf, such as shopping or collecting your pension, the details of these transactions will be recorded on a financial monitoring sheet within your personal file.

• Staff should, when ever possible, provide you with a receipt for any purchases made.
• You or your representative should check any change that is being given to you at the time that the sheet is being completed.
• You or your representative will also be asked to sign that the amounts and details are correct.

Risk Assessments

In order to provide a safe environment for both you and the staff providing your care, there are a number of risk assessments which must be completed, and which will relate to the care tasks being undertaken.

Completion of the relevant risk assessment allows us to provide you with the best level of care whilst ensuring your safety and that of the staff involved. It is also a requirement of our insurance, which covers the following.

• Public Liability
• Employers Liability
• Officials Indemnity
• Professional Indemnity

Some of the risk assessments may indicate that specialist equipment will be necessary and the implications of this will be discussed with you and your Care Manager. We accept that some risks in your environment will be acceptable to you as an individual but as employers we are not allowed to place staff in situations that contravine safe working legislation. In most cases risks will be mutually agreed and measures will be put in place with you to minimize any risk to yourself or staff. In some circumstances we may not be able to provide you with your entire assessed care package unless we are enabled to do this safely. There is more information about risk assessment within your service user file.

 

Useful Contacts

Wirral Department of Adult Social Services

John Webb Director of Social Services

Westminster House, Hamilton Street, Birkenhead, Wirral CH41 5FN

Central Advice & Duty Team

Telephone 0151 606 2006 Minicom 0151 666 5259 Fax 0151 666 5263

CADT, P.O Box 32, Birkenhead CH41 5WE

Emergency Duty Team

This service is available outside normal office hours, Monday to Friday from 5pm to 9am, weekends and bank holidays (including Christmas, New Years Day Easter). Outside the hours the department operates an emergency service provided by an Emergency Duty Team on 0151 677 6557.

 

The main emergency services are

Police 709 6010

Fire Brigade 227 4466

Arrow Park Hospital 678 5111

Otherwise call 999.

 

Complaints and access to records

Wirral Department of Adult Social Services Quality Assurance Unit

Westminster House, Hamilton Street, Birkenhead, Wirral CH41 5FN

Tel 0151 666 4787

 

Local Councilor or Member of Parliament

To find out your local Councilor or Member of Parliament please contact the Town Hall Wallasey Tel 0151 638 7070 

Local Government Ombudsman

Beverley House, 17 Shipton Road, York Y03 6FZ

 

Health Care Contacts

Arrow Park Hospital – 0151 678 5111

Clatterbridge Hospital – 0151 678 5111

Clatterbridge Center for Oncology – 0120 334 1155

Victoria Central Hospital – 0151 678 7272

St. Catherine’s Hospital – 0151 678 7272

Bebington & West Wirral PCT – 0151 643 5300

Birkenhead & Wallasey PCT – 0151 651 0011

 

General Social Care Council

Goldings House, 2 Hay’s Lane, London SE1 2HB

Tel 0207 397 5100 Fax 0207 397 5101 Email: Info@gsoc.org.uk