Home Care for South Tyneside

Provision for a Home Care Service for South Tyneside

To provide a home care service for the borough of South Tyneside covering all adults, but primarily older people, with a variety of care and support needs. The majority of care tasks fall into two main categories, personal care and practical household tasks such as cleaning.

Homecare is usually non-medical, although some care workers may be trained to undertake tasks such as peg feeding. Domiciliary care agencies work in partnership with other Health & Social Care professionals, so an individual may receive personal and medical care at home through the co-ordinated services of, for example, care workers, district nurses, and occupational therapists.

While home care generally refers to care delivered in the home, care workers employed by home care agencies may also undertake duties outside a service users home. These duties may include shopping on behalf of, or with, a service user or providing an escort for a hospital appointment or social event.

Home care should promote and develop the independence of service users by encouraging individuals to do as much as possible for themselves and take part in social activities. There is a greater move towards personalisation, which gives greater choice and control to the service user regarding their care delivery, rather than the prescriptive method of homecare where specific duties are undertaken by care workers at specific times.