This is a great question to ask any potential company or agency that you are thinking of engaging to arrange Live-in Care. The answer will depend on which route you follow to find your perfect Live-in Carer.
The Three Main Routes:
Private engagement – where you source, recruit and engage/employ a live-in carer without the help of a professional agency. With this option you obviously are able to chose the home Carer.
Recruitment & Introduction Agency – where a person engages the services of a specialist recruitment agency to source and present professional, self-employed, qualified carers to you to select and engage. With this type of agency, you will be able to choose the home Carer you would like to engage, usually from a selection of Livein Carer profiles (mini-CV’s) and the length of time you would like the home Carer to stay.
Managed Service – where you engage a company to provide you with professional, qualified carers whom they employ and therefore manage. With some managed Live-in Care agencies, you may not always be able to choose either the carer you want or the length of time you wish the carer to stay as the agency employing the carers often work on a more regular changeover of domiciliary carers to ensure they do not fall foul of any working time directives. Not all managed agencies work the same and so if this is the service you believe will suit you the best you would need to talk to the individual agencies.
How We Work
Access Care is an agency that recruits and introduces self-employed Live-in Carers and as such the answer is YES, you can choose your Carer.
Let me explain how our Agency works in relation to our living in carers:
When we have an initial conversation with you about Live-in Care we will be asking lots of questions, not only about the care you/your loved one needs but also about them as a person, we will ask about their hobbies, interests, what was/is their occupation, do they practice a religion, are the family very involved, do they like to cook, do they have pets and so on. These are really important factors as they help us to make a lovely match between client and carer. Live-in Care is so much more than helping someone to wash and dress; it is about providing a quality of life with dignity and companionship which is what the home carer can do.
Once we have had this initial conversation, we then start to look at the Carers we have available and match their skills, experience, hobbies & personalities as closely as we can to your requirements. We are proud at Access Care that we do not have computer systems to match the Carers; instead, we believe it is important to work with our heads and hearts, and will continue to do so.
Following our match-making process in the office, we will have a selection of Carer Profiles for you to consider. The profile tells you all about the Carer including:
An introduction and a little about them
Their experience and qualifications
The daily rate they are happy to work for and how long they would like to come to you for in the first instance.
Once you have had a chance to look at the profiles, we are happy to arrange for you to talk to the carers by phone, Zoom, WhatsApp, Facetime etc. The reality is that you are generally unable to meet the Carers face-to-face as they live all over the UK and abroad, and of course are probably caring for someone else when arranging their next placement so unable to leave them to attend an interview. This is part of the service an agency provides. We interview people on your behalf.
Based on all the information the agency provides and from speaking to the Carers should you wish, you choose your livein Carer!
Best wishes
Melanie
Head of Operations