Additional information

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About this service

Index of content

• Checklist
• The Agreement
• Policies, Procedures and Practices
• The Service Philosophy
• Dignity
• Independence
• Choice
• Rights
• Health and Personal Care - Fulfilment
• The Home Environment
• And Finally

Ww have published this guide for people who have booked Respite Care.

Guidelines also exist between Adult & Community Services and registered Care Homes for the provision of high quality Respite Care. A copy of these guidelines, called the 'Service Specification," can be requested from your local Adult & Community Services office, however, the relevant detail is covered on this page.

As well as these guidelines, teams of Inspectors visit registered Care Homes, the reports of these visits are held at main libraries. Copies of the reports can also be requested directly from the National Care Standards Commission, for their telephone number see.

Checklist

The following is a list of reminders and checks that you may find useful:

• Unlabelled clothes can be lost in the laundry
• Ensure you have enough medication with you to lost the length of your stay
• You may want to take loose change with you for the payphone
• Remember to take an address book with telephone numbers
• Bring a labelled container with you for your dentures
• You may want to label any aids that you take with you
• If necessary, remember to take your Hospital appointment card with you.
• Other items to remember may include a radio, biscuits, stamps etc.

The agreement

The details of the agreement for your Respite stay will be contained in a letter from Adult & Community Services that you will need to sign before your Respite stay can begin. The details in this letter will include:

• The period of your stay in the Home with confirmed dates of admission and of going home
• The financial arrangements for your stay indicating clearly the cost to you of your stay and how to pay your contribution to the Home
• A statement that you may be liable to pay the costs of a cancelled or reduced stay if you do not give good cause (e.g. illness) or notice of a change in arrangements

If you have any problems with the content of this letter you will need to contact your Care Manager at your local Adult & Community Services office.

As part of the agreement you will also have a Care Plan that will have been discussed and agreed by yourself and your Care Manager. This will set out the service that you require during your stay and any particular needs that you may have. If at any time you feel that your care needs have changed from those set out in your Care Plan, you will need to contact your Care Manager in order to discuss these changes.

The letter and Care Plan are, in effect, a contract that exists to identify the responsibilities of everyone concerned, and also to protect everyone from inconvenience or loss of money caused by a breach of the contract.

Policies, procedures and practices

The Home will have published certain policies, procedures and practice guidance notes. These will be freely available to you in the Home and will include:

• An internal complaints procedure, that you or your representatives can use should you have a problem with the Home or a member of staff.
• External contact points and telephone numbers of bodies such as Wiltshire Adult & Community Services Department and the Commission for Social Care Inspection
• The Home will send you a brochure detailing the facilities offered by them before your Respite begins
• The Home will make this information available in other formats that are acceptable to you, for example large print or audio.

This section of the guide sets out the philosophy of the home that you will be staying in. This philosophy will uphold the rights of all residents involved in the day to day activities of the Home.

The service philosophy

Your Privacy should be respected at all times. If a member of the Home's staff wishes to enter your room they should knock and wait for a reply before entering or not.

The Homes' policy on privacy is extended to all residents and will need to be observed not just by staff but also by any visitors and fellow residents.

If the door to your room is fitted with a lock it should be a safety lock, which can be over written in the case of an emergency.

Once you have been allocated a room this will remain your room for the duration of your stay. Should the need arise for you to move rooms during your stay this will be discussed with you. Your Care Manager is available should you not be happy with changes in arrangements.

You should have available a method of locking away any possessions that you wish.

There will be a payphone available within the home for your personal use, but you will need to check the rate the calls are charged at.

Dignity

The Homes' staff will respect your dignity at all times.

Staff should be sensitive to your needs when delivering personal care, and the practices used should be appropriate to your gender, age, race, religion and culture.

Independence

The staff at the Home will ensure the appropriate use of aids and adaptations to maintain your individual level of independence.

Whilst in the Home your personal finances will remain your responsibility. However, help may be available should you wish to ask for it.

Choice

Your choice, in all aspects of daily life, will be sought and respected by the Home within the boundaries of Health and Safety requirements that the Home has to maintain.

The choice provided to you by the staff at the home will be determined by your needs as set out in your Care Plan.

Rights

Your rights while staying in the Home will remain unaltered from those you already hold, these may include:

• The right to vote
• The right to maintain or develop relationships with people both inside and outside of the Home. If these relationships are of a sexual nature this will be respected by the Home.
• The right to maintain religious observance

The Home will make clear its policy on smoking and the facilities available for smoking.

Health and personal care - fulfilment

The Home can help make care arrangements for you to continue with any activities that you enjoy outside of the Home. However, you will probably need to make your own transport arrangements.

New activities may be offered to you by the Home, these should be sensitive to your age, gender, race, religion, culture and any disability you may have.

Your wish to participate, or not, in any activity will be respected by the Home. The staff will offer you any support that you need to participate in activities within the Home.

You will need to take any GP prescribed medication that you require with you into the Home. The Home will be able to provide you with help administering and storing your medication should you require or need it.

Should you need to visit a health care professional during your stay, the Home will try to ensure that you visit the one of your choice. However, this may not always be possible.

The Home will ensure that your health care and personal care needs are met in a manner appropriate to your cultural background.

Your specific health or personal care needs should already have been detailed in your Care Plan, if not you will need to make the Home aware of them.

The Home will take appropriate action in the case of an emergency. This may involve calling the emergency services or contacting your family.

The home environment

You will stay in a furnished, single or shared room, depending on your choice, with a storage place for your clothes and enough space for a sitting area.

The bathroom may be ensuite or it could be shared with other residents and situated conveniently nearby.

The Home will be arranged so that you can move freely and safely within the communal areas provided.

Appropriate arrangements will be in place to ensure hazards within the Home are clearly identified and that the security requirements of the Home and its residents are met. These arrangements will be balanced with your personal freedom.

The Home will ensure that its gardens are accessible to you and that they are safe and free from hazard.

There will be a clear policy relating to pets in the Home. You will need to check this with the Home before your visit and make alternative arrangements if necessary.

Relatives and friends who come to visit will be welcomed by the Home who will clearly display the visiting arrangements available.

And finally

Should you have any concerns or queries regarding any aspect of this guide, these can be taken up with your Care Manager. Matters relating to Home policy should be addressed to the Home in the first instance.

Adult & Community Services and the Care Home providers are working in partnership to ensure that you receive a high quality service that suits both your needs and wishes. If you feel that this has not been the case with the service you have received, please ensure that you make your feelings known to either the Home concerned or your Care Manager either verbally or preferably in writing.

If you have a specific comment to make on the staff or the service you have received from Wiltshire Adult & Community Services, a copy of the leaflet "Compliments, Comments and Complaints" can be requested from your local office.

Last updated: 22 March 2009