About Us How Carefully Ltd can help you...
Based in North London, our foundations are based on a family run care home alternative which means we always have hope, love and trust at the centre of what we do. We are a care company which specialises in 24 hour live in care and offers comfort and genuine passion to those we serve.
Using all our knowledge and skill we can tailor a care plan around your needs.
Our employees are always there for you and will never discriminate; we have a range of ethical and procedural policies which we hold close to our hearts. At Carefully Ltd it is our aim to create a system of care that suits you, which is why we create consistency in your care and uphold a culture of respect both between carers and you, and between our carers themselves.
I am very happy at the way things are still going in Harpenden, and Patience seems to be equally professional and kind as Elena. Carolyn G.
Frequently asked questions
We will always make sure that the services you receive meet, and often better, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) Essential Standards of Quality and Safety, and the Department of Health Domiciliary Care National Minimum Standard.
First, one of our care managers will visit you in the comfort of your home and will carry out a detailed assessment of your needs. If you prefer, you can arrange to meet the care manager at another place, for example your local Flexicare office, or in hospital (if appropriate).
After this you will receive the offer of an ‘introductory pack’ containing a personalised and flexible care package, which will be the basis of our contract with you.
At this stage, you do not have to sign a contract. We will be happy to answer any questions you, or your family or representative, may have at this stage.
We will carry out a number of reviews of your care package throughout our contract with you. The first will be in the early weeks of service, and then at least every six months after this. At these reviews we will ask if you would be prepared to give us feedback on the quality of our services. This feedback will help us better your expectations.
We have an excellent health and safety record spanning 14 years and are determined to maintain this in the future. All carers are in regular contact with their local Flexicare office, where our trained administration and management staff are based.
We pay Peninsula, a specialist company, to give us professional support and training in health and safety matters. Our health and safety handbook contains policies and procedures, which all employees have to understand and keep to.
This leads to a safe and healthy working environment which benefits you and our employees. One of our care managers monitors your care package and carries out risk assessments on an on-going basis.
We have a strict key-holding policy. This means you need to give us written permission for your carer to have a set of keys to your home along with details of any relevant security arrangements. We train our carers to respect your property and to see that you are safe in your own home before they leave.
We thoroughly check all employees during the recruitment procedure, including checks we legally need to carry out as instructed by the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB). We also have a full domiciliary care providers insurance policy.
Carers know which medicines you have and this will be shown in your file which we keep in your own home. The carers will be able to help you with your medication. For example, if you give them your permission, they will collect your prescription and medication from the GP surgery or the pharmacy and help you get medicines out of dosette boxes if you ask. They will also keep a record of this in the file kept at your home.
If you need your carer to actually give you your medication, they will need to be trained by a named healthcare professional, for example the district nurse. The nurse will make a record of this training in your file and we can arrange this for you.
You may be required to take your medication slightly earlier or later than normal in rare circumstances, so flexibility is sometimes required. As we are committed to working with you and other professionals with responsibilities for your wellbeing, this will make sure that we keep to the best system for helping you with your medication.
We train our carers to the highest standard in moving you. Your needs are covered in your service needs assessment. This will involve input from healthcare professionals if this applies, and we will make sure that carers involved in your care are trained and competent in moving you.
Your carer is responsible for keeping a timesheet (Monday to Sunday) with the agreed dates and times that they will visit you. You will check that the dates and times are correct before signing each day and at the end of the week. If you arrange it with us, we will accept signatures from representatives or relatives if you cannot do so yourself.
We train our employees in our emergency procedure if there is any medical, domestic or personal emergency. Our employees also have direct access to senior management or emergency medical advice.
Sometimes, we may identify a danger which exposes you or your carers to an unacceptable level of risk. These can include dangers within or around your home, physical, verbal or mental abuse, harassment, intimidation and bullying. If our staff are exposed to an unsafe environment or toxic substances in your home or the area nearby, we may need to assess how best to continue with your care.
Obviously, we cannot provide a full list of these possible risks, but our managers will make the final decision. They will then write to you with the reasons why we cannot deliver the service (if this is the case).
We run an alternative cover system for planned and unplanned absences (for example, holidays and sickness). We will let you know about the alternative arrangements and tell you when your normal carer will return. We do all we can to keep any interruption to a minimum.
Our policy is to keep your information strictly confidential and to maintain your trust. We will store information about you in both paper and electronic form. We have a very effective security policy that makes sure we store your information in a secure way and that only authorised people have access to it.
We need information about you so we can give you the best possible service. We may also use some of the information for other purposes, such as:
- Making sure our services meet your needs
- Helping staff to review the service they provide to help them achieve the highest standards
- Investigating complaints, concerns or legal claims
- Auditing our services
We will always ask your permission to share information with health-care professionals involved in your care.
We believe you should never feel that you have to buy a gift to show your gratitude. However, we understand it is your right and choice if you want to do this. To protect you, we ask our employees to only accept gifts which are of a very low value and to tell us about these. We then make a record of them.
We do not allow our employees to act as witnesses if you are signing any legal documents such as wills. We do not allow them to be an executor or a beneficiary under a will of any past or present client, and our employees must never accept a loan from you.
If you want to temporarily cancel our services, please phone the office at least one week beforehand. This allows us to send your carer to help someone else. If you want to permanently cancel our services, please write to the office at least two weeks beforehand.
