Care and Collaboration | Helping Hands Home Care

Posted on 24th January 2017.

‘Care’ – “the provision of what is necessary for the health, welfare, maintenance, and protection of someone or something.”

Though this is the dictionary definition of care, we believe there is more that should be included; caring for someone else should be person-centred and built on listening and understanding what our customers need. In order to do this, we believe in a collaborative approach.

‘Collaboration’ – “the situation of two or more people working together to create or achieve the same thing.”

Collaborative care brings different people together in order to achieve the best possible support for another person. This support can be both emotional and physical, and everyone involved in that person’s care has a different role to play. So who exactly is involved in collaborative care?

Let’s start with the carer. They are involved in a range of duties and tasks, with the focus always being the wellbeing of the person they are supporting. Depending on what their customer needs from them, carers adapt their approach and place great significance on ensuring that these unique requirements are always met. In most cases, carers also become close companions and as this article explains , companionship can be just as important as providing medication or helping with mobility.

Carers liaise closely with various other individuals, especially the customer’s family. This is to ensure that they can learn about their customer from the people who know them best. For us and our carers, it is also important that the family or friend feels reassured that their loved one is getting the best level of support – this is why we always arrange an initial face-to-face meeting with our customers’ loved ones, to help ease any concerns that they might have, and our carers are highly flexible to yours and your loved one’s lifestyle .

Carers always work closely with customers and their families, but there are other individuals involved in providing care that you may not always think of. Sometimes, carers work alongside clinical nurses and occupational therapists, taking the lead from their expertise and practises. This is a great example of how care can be collaborative and how teamwork can ensure the best level of support. Here at Helping Hands, we fully appreciate the value of this relationship and our team of clinical nurse specialists work collectively with the carer in order to arrange for specialist respite care to be delivered within the environment the customer feels most secure and comfortable.

In addition, Helping Hands works with a wider network of around 60 Clinical Commissioning Groups and other organisations so that we can understand even more about how we can improve our service and approach to help individuals with complex care requirements. Ranging from training our carers in PEG feeding and stoma care to helping with home adaptations , we have enabled individuals to remain at home whilst still having access to the support they need.

The most important person involved in ‘collaborative care’ is the customer themselves. Their needs always come first. Our carers and those working alongside them should always communicate with the person receiving the care, putting them at ease and ensuring that they have the opportunity to have the way of life that that they want and deserve. Collaborative care is all about building a relationship based on trust and respect, which our carers work hard to establish; they always place the greatest importance on safety and security, as well as being a close friend for their customer. We firmly believe that anyone receiving care should have the chance to stay in their home environment, respecting their dignity and choices. This is the Helping Hands way .

We are always here to help and support you at every step of the care process, and we are always adapt to suit all care requirements. Providing care collaboratively in this way is something we have been doing for 27 years, so do you or a loved one need care? For more information about our home care services, please get in touch with us we are always here to listen!

Contact us today to find out more information about our care services.