Home care
Home care services are provided either by staff directly employed by the council or by staff employed by private or voluntary agencies on behalf of the council. There are three types of home care service:
- Domestic support: Includes help with shopping, cleaning, collecting your pension, paying your bills; or, if you have a need for a chemical toilet to be emptied, this can be included.
- Personal care: Includes help with washing, bathing, preparation of a meal (for special diets) or eating, dressing, transferring from bed to chair etc, supervising medication, hair-care and other personal care tasks.
- Rehabilitation enablement services: Designed to assist someone to regain their ability to undertake their own domestic and personal care tasks following an illness or injury, to remain in their own home.
To qualify
You will qualify to receive a service if you
are:
- ordinarily resident in the borough of Ealing
- have been assessed as having significant difficulties with managing domestic and personal care tasks
- you are in need of assistance which no-one else can provide
Initially your service will be provided for a period of six weeks and will be reviewed every four-six weeks.
The number of times someone will visit you to help you with these tasks will be decided by the assessor who identifies your needs; they will discuss this with you. As your needs or circumstances change, your services will also be reviewed to ensure that they are still appropriate.
Usually the same care staff will visit you on a regular basis and will become known to you. They will visit you at a regular time during the week. However, there are occasions when due to sickness of staff, holidays or emergencies, this time will need to be changed or a different person may be asked to visit you.
How to apply
In the first instance you should contact the social
services customer contact centre on (020) 8825 8000; email
sscallcentre@ealing.gov.uk or
make contact in person at one of the
social services reception points. You will
be asked for more information about yourself and your needs.
The team may then arrange for a care manager or assessor to
visit you and find out more about your needs and decide what
services are most suitable for you. This is called an
'assessment'.
The Data Protection Act 1998 defines the rules for processing personal information and applies to most paper records and to computer records.
Cost
There is a charge for this service. However, if you
cannot afford the full cost of the service, you can apply for a
reduction in charges. This will mean that you need to provide
more information about your finances so that we can decide what you
will pay towards the cost.
All charges are based on your income and expenditure only.
What happens if I am away from home?
If you are going out for the day (for example to a
hospital appointment) or are away from your home for any length of
time, you will need to cancel your regular visits. You will
be told who to contact on these occasions when you start to receive
your service. If you do not cancel your visit but are not at
home, you may be charged for the service anyway.
Feedback
We welcome your comments and suggestions about any
of our services and how they may be improved. The customer
care unit can deal with your comments or complaints, and they can
be contacted on (020) 8825 8100; email:
sscallcentre@ealing.gov.uk;
or write to Social Services, Perceval House, 14-16 Uxbridge Road,
Ealing, London W5 2HL.
Alternatively you can contact the local Commission for Social Care Inspection at the following address :
58 Uxbridge Road, Ealing, London, W5 2FT
Tel (020) 8280 0347