Yes, we ask people to sign a short contract as it protects both parties as without a contract in place our insurance cover would be invalid and our regulator (the Care Quality Commission) wants to see that the service is operating on a professional footing. To put your mind at ease, a contract can be terminated with just 7 days’ notice and any appointment can be cancelled free of charge as long as we receive 24 hours’ notice. If you do wish to cancel our services, we can usually terminate the service in less than 7 days.
As stated above, we ask for just 7 days’ notice.
If a client is taken ill, gets admitted to hospital etc. we suspend care from the last visit and do not expect you to pay for a further seven days.
Our clients’ needs change all the time. Our office staff work on a daily basis with clients and their families to provide the right care. This can involve adding, cancelling, changing appointments and completing ad hoc tasks such as taking people to hospital appointments.
Our care staff fill in an application form and are then interviewed to see if we believe they are suitable for a post at Independent Living. If they are suitable we submit a ‘Disclosure and Barring Form’ to check that the person does not have a criminal record which would put our customers at risk. We then seek at least two references.
If the references are satisfactory, staff then undergo training, they shadow existing staff when meeting with clients until we believe that they are confident and able to work unsupervised.
Yes, we have an established care company and operate from business premises (shop/office) at 225 Eaves Lane, Chorley, PR6 0AG.
These premises are registered with the CQC. You are welcome to visit us during normal office hours.
Yes we have a specialist insurance policy for care.
We can carry out calls from just 30 minutes, some customers want a welfare check – that they are well and we can prompt medication. In practice most of our care calls are 30, 45, or 60 minutes. Some care companies have a policy of a MINIMUM 1 HOUR CARE CALL. We do not agree with this – we do not see why a person should pay for an hour’s care if the tasks just take just 30 minutes.
