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SUNSHINE LIVE-IN CARE AGENCY - Dorset Service

Our 24 hour Living in homecare service in Dorset provides security and peace of mind through the support and assistance of a person staying with you in the comforts of yoDur own home.

Whether you are looking for help today, either for yourself or for a loved one, or simply preparing for the future, why not speak to us and find out how we can help you or those close to you.

Care Delivery Process

We always strive to ensure that all the care staff who work for us are well matched to the care needs and personal requirements of the service users for whom they are responsible and that they have the appropriate training and experience in that field.

To achieve quality of service delivery we follow the following process:

Step 1. Care Needs Assessment
Step 2. Risk Assessment
Step 3. Agreement to Provide Service and collect advance payment
Step 4. Care Plan
Step 5. Set up Key Carers to Service User and construct Rostering Plan
Step 6. Introduction to Key Carer(s)
Step 7. Regular Supervisions, Care Reviews & Quality Assurance

Call us for a Free Assessment on 08452 600 670 or submit the online form.

Live-In Care Dorset Enquiry Form

Please complete and submit the online form and let us know about your Live-in care requirements.
Our Dorset Care Team Coordinator will contact you shortly.

24 Hour Live in Care - PLATINUM SERVICE

Dorset Care staff are selected, and employed in their jobs, to work to support a client in the best possible way to provide a service that exceeds all quality care standards. They are direct employees of the Sunshine Care Ltd. These care support workers are supervised on a weekly basis by telephone and more formal supervisions take place at least four times a year. Further annual update health and safety and first aid training is mandatory so that staff are kept up to date with new legislation.

Our Dorset 24 hour living in care support service will vary from short-term respite care to relieve the family Carer, convalescent care or companionship care up to full support personal care packages. For those with very high dependency needs we will deliver more intensive packages, sometimes involving two carers at a time, if this is what is needed.

Care Monitoring and Supervision

All Dorset Live-in Care (Platinum Service) contracts are supervised by our own State Registered Nurse (SRN) and a Care Team Coordinator. We offer full 24 hour, 7 days a week emergency back up and cover. This is on our main office number 08452 600 670. This is for both clients and carers alike. Carers are fully briefed on the nature of care each client requires before they take up any assignment. We also allow for a face to face handover period for the incoming and outgoing carers so that carers are familiar with their clients specific needs. Where appropriate, this may be for up to 24 hours in advance of the changeover, if this is funded and there are adequate bedrooms available.  Our clients are reviewed and assessed regularly throughout the year by a Live In Care Team Coordinator.  This is a fundamental part of their job description.

Your Live in support workers will carry out personal care tasks, such as helping you to get up, washed and dressed, assist you to go to the toilet, all at your own speed and to your own preferred times. They will also be available to cook meals, do light housework and shopping as part of their jobs. They can provide outings to places of local interest and look after your pets.

We can also arrange packages of care to facilitate a safe and prompt hospital discharge back to your home, supporting you until you regain your independence.

Continuity of Care

Sunshine Care makes every effort to maintain continuous care for each service user.  We guarantee to provide cover either in the case of illness or holiday so that the client is not left alone for a period of time.  You will be assigned a main key carer and a second relief key carer; so unless an emergency occurs you should have two regular personal support workers visiting you.

Holidays are always pre-booked in advance with the Live-in Care Coordinator, so that an appropriate replacement carer can be assigned and an appropriate face to face handover be arranged. This way a better understanding of the care needs can be imparted.

We sometimes place two carers in homes where the care requirement is more demanding, for example if there are moving and handling issues or very disturbed nights. Sometimes, live-in care is appropriate to facilitate a prompt and safe hospital discharge that can then be reduced as the person readjusts to living back at home. If this is the case, our assessors are happy to come out and visit the person and their family in hospital before they are discharged so that an appropriate service can be agreed.

By assessing your specific needs we match your requirements with the skill sets and personalities of our care staff and agency workers. You or your loved one can remain in the comfort and familiarity of home without compromising the level of care and support received. This way we can match the most suitable care assistant to each client.

Many of our personal support workers will be able to drive as part of their jobs, so that outings to the shops, day centres or an occasional change of scene can be accommodated easily; however, this cannot be guaranteed.  If you are keen to stay at home because of pets they will be able to care for them as well as they care for you. Most importantly, because the same carers will stay with you on an ongoing basis, you benefit from a continuity of companionship, routine and care.

Some of the reasons we know live-in care works:

1. People value their independence and want to stay at home.
2. People don't want to change their routines and have to fit in with others.
3. The family want the freedom to visit whenever they want to.
4. People want one-to-one specialist care from somebody they have chosen.
5. Many people really want to stay with their pets.
6. The type of person-centred care can change simultaneously with needs.
7. The costs are comparable with care homes.

Family-owned agency

Sunshine Care is a family-owned business that provide care services in London, Bournemouth, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Bath, Dorset, Somerset, Dorset, Torbay, Devon and Cornwall. We respond to the needs of our clients 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week, allowing them the best quality of life possible. We are registered with the Care Quality Commission, (CQC).

Home help & care support

Our fluent English-speaking care staff or agency workers will be able to support with:

• Companionship - having a companion makes a difference to your quality of life.
• Personal Care – i.e. dressing, bathing, toileting, assisting with medication.
• Housekeeping – i.e. cleaning, laundry, shopping and cooking.

Well trained and carefully selected care-assistants

Our teams of Dorset care staff and care agency workers are carefully interviewed, references obtained and CRB police checked and trained before being placed with a client. The Training and Recruitment Week consists of 4 to 5 days of intensive training and assessment, (which includes first aid, health and safety, infection control, protection of vulnerable adults, medication administration and practical care training), during which week the candidates who are applying to join our organisation are assessed with regard to their suitability.

Where specialist attention and care is required we have developed bespoke care training packages, a full list of topics covered is available. This would include offering support to families where there are young children. In these instances we would ensure that the carer placed had completed the appropriate Child Protection Training.

We are familiar with different methods of financing care packages.

If you need assistance with raising the funds to pay for the delivery of the care service we have information on this website; {FINANCIAL ADVICE} or we can refer you to specialists in this field, such as {Care Aware}. Please contact your Care Coordinator for more details.

Nearly half of our clients are supported directly or indirectly by the statutory sector.

See also our Clients' Frequently Asked Questions page.

For policies relating to Domiciliary Care see our Service Users' Guide

We create a supportive and caring environment for our Clients and their Carers, underpinned by our four key values: 

• We put people first
• We keep our promises
• We respect each other
• We care for others as one of our family

GOLD SERVICE

GOLD SERVICE - Sunshine Care can introduce you to Live-in Workers for whom an Agency Introduction Fee is charged.

Personal Assistant Workers introduced in this manner are not employees of the Agency. Their salary and travel expenses are paid directly to them by the client at the end of their assignment or working week according to your agreed arrangements.

Should a client wish to engage a "worker", introduced by the Agency, on a private basis, a permanent Placement Fee is charged.

Sunshine Care specialises in the introduction of live in carers for the elderly and infirm. We also provide care for clients with varying degrees of dementia from short term memory loss to advanced Alzheimers. We also care for clients with Parkinsons or stroke victims as well as young people with physical or learning disabilities.

After over a decade of providing care, we know just how important it is to encourage our clients to be as independent as possible. As our clients are known to us individually, this personal knowledge from each Care Manager allows us to choose the most suitable carer to meet each individual client’s needs. Each client is visited regularly by their own Care manager and this ongoing personal knowledge helps us to continue to find the most appropriate carer.

As an introductory agency, we also believe in enabling our clients to have the widest possible choice of carers, and client preferences are always given the highest priority. We operate a stringent recruitment process which, together with our training programme, was widely praised in our CQC report.

EXPENSES

Payment Options

Acceptable methods of payment can be either by cheque or via telephone banking when paying the carers at the end of their week/s with you. Please ensure the daily rate totals and travel expenses are itemised separately. This is for tax purposes as otherwise the expenses may be treated as part of the carers' taxable income.

Cash

Please don't be tempted to pay any of the carers' wages in cash. This is for your protection, as well as theirs. As self-employed carers, they all have current bank accounts. They are also asked to carry with them enough cash to cover any onwards journeys they may need to make.

Additional expenses

If there are any additional expenses to be reimbursed to the carer (such as for shopping, dry cleaning etc) please ensure that this is also itemised and where possible written on a separate cheque. The carers are required to provide receipts for ALL transactions, however small. It is however, the responsibility of the client and/or the families to make sure that all incoming carers know your system and where to put all the receipts etc. Please make sure that the new carers know exactly what is expected of them.

Travel expenses

All public transport expenses must be supported by a receipt. Travel expenses for cars are paid at 20p per mile. The client is expected to contribute up to a limit of £35.00 per week. This is set per week rather than per booking, so that if we have a carer travelling a long distance, we endeavour to keep her bookings to fortnightly, so the travel costs can be staggered. This is not a guaranteed sum of £35.00 paid automatically to the carers regardless of where they are coming from. We have a computer in the office, which can work out any mileage so if you have any concerns about how far the journey is, PLEASE DO NOT HESITATE TO CALL THE OFFICE.

IT IS MOST IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT THE CONTRIBUTION IS FOR THE JOURNEY TO YOU, NOT THEIR ONWARD JOURNEY.

Should the carer be going on to another job, there is no additional cost to you. If you are not sure where the carer is going on to, please call the office and we will be happy to confirm their onward journey.