The example below is illustrative. It is drawn from the kind of packages we run every week, with details combined and altered so that no individual can be identified.
A lady in Childwall lived in the same house for forty-one years and had no intention of leaving. Her son rang us because he had found the immersion heater on for three days and a fridge with very little in it. She did not think there was a problem. He was fairly sure there was. We started with one call a day.
The call we got
She was in her mid-eighties, widowed, and getting on well enough on the surface. She got dressed. She answered the phone. She could still tell you the score from the weekend.
What had slipped was everything underneath that. Shopping had become an occasional event rather than a weekly one. Meals had turned into toast. The washing was going in but not always coming out. Her son worked full-time in the city centre and was calling in three or four evenings a week, doing a load of washing, having a cup of tea and leaving worried.
He was not asking us to take over. He was asking for enough support to help his mother remain safely at home, and enough information to understand what was happening without having to guess.
This is the most common enquiry we get about private home care.
What we put in place
We started small on purpose. One call a day, an hour and late morning.
Starting small matters with someone who is not convinced they need help. A big package on day one gets refused, or accepted and resented. An hour a day is a person coming for a cup of tea who also happens to change the bed.
The first call covered a hot meal, a load of washing, general tidying and shopping every Thursday. Medication prompting was written into the plan from the start, because her tablets were being missed rather than doubled, and that is easier to fix early. A full breakdown of the tasks a package can cover is in our guide to what private home care includes.
After a fortnight she asked whether the carer could come in the mornings instead, so we moved it. Six weeks in, when she had got used to the idea, we added a short evening call at 8 pm for a light supper, medication and settling for the night.
By four months she was on three calls a day: morning, a 30-minute lunchtime call, and evening. She asked for the lunch call herself.
Two regular carers cover her week, with a third who steps in for holidays and who she has met properly. The same faces every week is not a nice extra. It is the thing that makes the rest of it work, and it is the first question we would put to any provider you are choosing between in Liverpool.
What changed
The heating bill came down.
Her weight came back up, which her GP noticed before we mentioned it. She started going to the church coffee morning on Tuesdays again because she had someone there to help her get ready and make sure she was ready in time. The washing basket stopped being a source of argument between her and her son. Loneliness does as much damage as most physical stuff, which is why we take the social side of a visit seriously and why we have written about whether technology can help reduce it.
Her son now gets a note after every visit through the care log. He still calls in, but he calls in for his tea rather than to do jobs. That change in the relationship between an adult child and an ageing parent is worth more than most of what appears on a care plan.
Why this works
We start with what she wanted, not with a checklist. She wanted to stay in her house, keep her routine and not be fussed over. Everything in the plan serves that.
The package moved with her. Care needs do not stay still, and a plan written in month one and never revisited is not a plan. We review, and we change the timings when the person asks. A stay in hospital usually means a temporary increase, and there is more on that in how we help people settle back home after a hospital stay.
Continuity. Two carers who know that she takes her tea strong, that the back door sticks, and that if she is quiet on a Monday something is usually up.
Nothing gets taken away that she can still do herself. She makes her own breakfast. She always has. Where a bit of everyday technology can support independent living, we would rather set that up than do the task for her.
If you are looking at care for a parent
Most families come to us at roughly the point that son did. Not a crisis, just a growing pile of small worries.
What it costs. £28 an hour, weekends included at the same rate. The minimum visit is 30 minutes, which comes to £14. Our guide to how much home care costs per hour explains what sits behind the rate and how packages are usually quoted.
How fast can we start? Within 72 hours for private clients.
How it was paid for. Self-funded. She owns her home, which puts her above the means-test threshold under the Care Act 2014, so local authority funding was not available to her. Some people in that position use a Personal Health Budget or a Direct Payment where they are eligible, and we work with both. Our guide to private home care funding goes through the routes properly.
If you live at a distance. Plenty of the families we work with are not in Liverpool. Monitoring home care when you live miles away sets out what to ask a provider for.
Quarry Homecare is registered with the Care Quality Commission to provide personal care, with more than 16 years in the domiciliary care sector across Liverpool and Merseyside.
Common questions
Will my mum accept a carer coming in?
Often not on the first suggestion. Starting with one short call and a fixed named carer works far better than a full package presented as a done deal. Most people who were against the idea in month one are asking for an extra call by month four.
What if her needs change?
We review the plan and change it. Packages go up and down.
Do you offer live-in care?
No. We provide visiting home care, from 30-minute calls upwards, across Liverpool and Merseyside.
Can we start with just one visit a week?
Yes. Plenty of packages start that way.
If you are further along in the worrying than you would like to be, call us on [phone number] or use our contact page. We will come out, have a look and tell you honestly what we think is needed. We cover Childwall, Wavertree, Woolton and the surrounding areas. See all of our Liverpool locations.
