Care at Home
Welcome to the Care at Home page, full of informative information and videos on 'What Care at Home is?', 'Why it matters?’ and Who delivers it?'
What is Care at Home?
A person’s journey may start with Reablement services to regain independence then people may go on to receive care at home which supports people at home by providing personal care and practical domestic help in a way which fits in with assessed individual needs and routines and those of carers, providing people meet the Eligibility Criteria.
In general terms, home care staff can provide assistance with getting up, dressing, undressing and going to bed as well as with personal hygiene, such as going to the toilet, washing and shaving.
Household tasks are also carried out, such as bed making, laundry and some housework, but only as part of a more complex care package.
Assistance can also be given with meals. The worker could also collect pensions, go shopping and pay bills for you, but again, only as part of a more complex care package.
Why it matters?
Care at home improves outcomes for people by ensuring they are able to stay safely in their own home, continuing to be part of their community and remaining as independent as possible.
Watch this short video to see the huge difference carer Lyndsay Clark makes to the life of Anne Graham.
Who delivers Care at Home?
Here you can read about the teams that support and care for the people living in Perth & Kinross Community...
HART: Home Assessment Recovery Team. The Team provides personal care and support to people who, because of illness or disability, require intensive support with a key focus on reablement to remain in their own homes, return home from hospital and maintain or return to their previous level of independence.
HART+: A team of staff who are skilled and experienced in delivering intensive short-term support 24/7 to service users across Perth and Kinross.
Independent sector: There are 14 Independent Sector Care Providers in Perth and Kinross who support clients in their home by providing personal care and practical domestic help in a way which fits in with individuals assessed needs and routines. In general, people will have experienced HART/HART+/SWiTCH before moving over to the independent sector. Another option is to employ a personal assistant or self-employed carer, this allows the person who is being cared for to decide who will support them, and how, rather than support being provided by an agency.
Senior Reablement Assistants: A new development to encourage a more progressive career structure for care staff within both external and internal care at home services. These posts will have additional training and responsibility to facilitate improved links with alternative resources to focus more on people’s outcomes and life wishes. Varying RAG systems, with input from the wider staff team are used to highlight the most vulnerable people and those who, for a short time, would benefit from additional support.
Care at Home Resiliency Development
We wish to share with you this exciting local co-design project with the people of Perth & Kinross who access care at home services, their families, support workers and our local partners.
To learn more about this incredible collaborative approach please click on the link below which will share more about: The Story So Far and What The Vision Is for the Future....
Living Well Care Team Page
Below you will see a link to the brand new Living Well care Team Induction pages. These are here for any successful applicants to help them with their induction to the job as well as for anyone who may be interested in joining the Living Well Care Team to see what the job entails. Pages are a work in progress and are in early stages of development meaning that things may change at times while we are still developing them.
We now have a twitter account dedicated to all things care at home across Perth & Kinross. Feel free to give us a follow as we will be updating the site regularly, you can do so here.
Good news stories
We will update this page regularly with positive stories from our staff and our service users.
Care at Home Good News Stories
If you have any stories you would like to share with us please contact us at careathome@pkc.gov.uk, we would love to hear from you.
Staff Benefits and Incentives
Employees of Perth & Kinross council have access to a wide variety of benefits and incentives. Whether you are office-based, in a school, or work outdoors, the Council realise that it is the employees that contribute to the success of the organisation. In order to attract and retain their employees the Council has a variety of benefits ranging from flexible working practices, to discounted purchases, ensuring that there is something to benefit everyone. A list of these benefits can be found here.
Wellbeing Resources
There are a range of resources available if you feel like you need some support. Some of these include a number of apps that you can download and try: Employee wellbeing resources - Accessing support
Care at Home Learning
We have a separate page that we will update with all learning related to Care at Home.
Get into Social Care
We have been working hard behind the scenes to create a clear & concise pathway into a career in care so that anybody who may be interested has an understanding of what they need to do and where it can take you. The group working on this has been meeting regularly since late last year and has been outlining the many ways of getting into a career in care. This is a great example of collaborative working with our colleagues in HR, Employment Initiatives, Developing the Young Workforce Team and Learning and Development, giving us a variation of perspectives, which allows us to create the best possible pathway we can. We have been looking at the entry points that a career in care can begin on and building on these by highlighting the varying levels of experience and training that is required for each one. We want anyone that decides to take on a career in the care sector to have a very clear understanding of what is to be expected of them at each level and where they can go. This page is still a work in progress so things may continue to change. Click the link below to see what we have been working on.
NEW! - The Care Inspectorate has collaborated with the Scottish Social Services Council and the Sue Ryder organisation to produce a pocket guide and educational video to support care at home support workers. This video gives an in-depth overview of how to use the ‘Eyes and Ears’ pocket guide resource to support a care at home visit. For more information click here.
NHS education for Scotland (NES) and the Scottish Social Services Council (SSSC) have developed a framework for use by employers and staff during the induction of new or redeployed social care workers. This resource is designed to help with identifying resources, links to information and guidance which will support employers and workers, meet learning needs, compliment existing skills, and provide required mandatory learning. The induction framework brings together learning resources, Codes of Practice, and the Health and Social Care Standards. This resource will be refreshed and revised regularly by NES and the SSSC and is available here.
