The August Bank Holiday – A Time of Transition!

Last September I was speaking to a Central Heating Engineer at a business group in Leyland who described the August Bank Holiday as the point at which people’s thinking moves from Summer to Winter, and in his case customers suddenly require a home boiler service and review their care and support for the central heating immediately after Bank Holiday Monday.  I guess their thinking has moved from Summer to Winter over a weekend!

Care is similar.  As I write this just before the August Bank Holiday weekend I note the weather is getting slightly colder, rainy and the daylight is reducing.  Generally, this change in weather affects the health of older people, and when the clocks go back at the end of October further problems can occur.

If you are considering home care for yourself or a loved one the next few weeks are an ideal time to start making enquiries.  Like many sectors over the Summer we have staffing issues as carers take a holiday but in September when the schools go return we are back to full capacity.  Arranging home care starts with a call to our office on 01257 696 050 where you can speak informally to our Registered Care Manager, or Care Manager who will advise you on a range of issues from tasks, potential call times and duration, and cost.  At this point you can go away and think about care and talk to other family members to make a decision.  If you want to go forwards the next step is to arrange a “Care Assessment” where Amanda or Lilian come to your home to talk about your care needs and document key information.  The Care Assessment is free of charge and again afterwards you may want to think about it or talk it through with family members. If you are happy to proceed we can then put a care plan and care in place.  We usually recommend taking a small amount of care at first and build up if it meets your needs.  This is in preference to putting a large care package in place and finding it is unsuitable.  Generally it takes us about a week to put care in place but if it is urgent it can possibly be done in under 24 hours.

If you are thinking about home care this Winter why not give us a phone call in standard office hours on 01257 696 050.