The council provides a support service for older people and adults who are unable to provide their own personal care. This may also be provided to relieve a carer.

Personal care

This includes helping you to:

• get out of bed, wash, dress and go to the toilet
• maintain a healthy diet, keep warm and return safely to bed at night

We aim to support people to continue living independently at home so you may also get help with:

• shopping
• washing
• personal laundry 
• meals
• bed changing
• essential cleaning  

There are some jobs we ask care assistants not to do. These include professional nursing duties, gardening, decorating, household repairs, spring-cleaning, polishing brass or silverware, fire-lighting and climbing ladders to clean windows. If you need help with these then you should contact the Customer Advice Centre who will advise you. 

All domicillary care service agencies are required to register with the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) who inspect the quality of services offered. Reports on all registered agencies are available from the CSCI website or from the CSCI York office.

Private agencies can provide services directly to the public. Information on the services and charges made for them are published and are a requirement of their registration with the commission. Details of all local agencies offering care in your own home are available to download on the right hand side of this page

Arranging help

Contact one of our customer advice centres and we will arrange for someone to contact you to discuss your needs and carry out an assessment of your needs if necessary.

If your assessment indicates a need for support this may be provided by council staff, or staff from private agencies which are appropriately registered.

How you can help us

We need to make sure the home care service is available to customers who need it most. We ask you to help us by:

• providing equipment and materials for routine work (eg. vacuum, iron, detergents, etc.)
• accepting that when your care assistant is on holiday it's possible someone else will come to do essential tasks.

We also expect:

• you to have a normal household contents insurance policy to cover your own possessions against accidental damage
• that our home care assistants can only work in your house if you or someone else is there, unless they have the written permission of the householder and the permission of their manager.

Cost

There is usually a charge for these services. You will be assessed financially and will be offered a full welfare benefit check to ensure you are receiving the appropriate level financial support. Details of the service and arrangements for providing it are discussed and agreed with you. We then write telling you what we are able to provide and how much you will pay.

The amount you pay will be based on an hourly rate of £15.00 (from 10/4/07), but we will assess you to decide how much of this you need to pay. You may not have to pay any charge at all. 

Even if you need more than one carer at a time, at the moment we would not charge you for the second carer. 

Changes to home care services

Changes to the way home care services are provided came into effect on 4 December 2006.

Council staff provide up to the first 6 weeks of care to all new customers so that as many as possible can live independently without long-term care. People needing long-term care will be referred on to one of three care providers, depending on which area of the city they live in.  People needing practical help rather than personal care will be referred to the Home Support Service.

• North east of the city: York Helpers
• South east of the city: Carewatch Care Services
• West of the city: Goldsborough Homecare

These new contracts have been awarded to care providers following a review of the way that home care services are provided.

If your needs change and you need more specialist care because of increased confusion or more physical needs, you may need to move from your long term provider to one of the council's specialist Home Care Serices.

Your privacy

All staff understand that your affairs are private and should not be discussed with others without your permission. All care staff should identify themselves by an identification card. This has their photograph, their name and the name of the organisation they work for.

Customers of the services are regularly consulted and asked about the quality of the service they receive. All complaints are dealt with swiftly and sensitively.