Friends Helping At Home was established to enable care to be delivered the way that we would want for ourselves or a loved one.
We recognised that good care and help around the home needed to be done differently. Service providers or carers had to be valued and recognised.
After all, caregivers and helpers are always going to be the most important part in providing the services to enable customers to remain living well in the comfort of their own homes.
After three years and have five branches covering South Devon: Exeter, Teignbridge, Torbay, South Hams, and Plymouth and have a Central Management Team offering a range of specialisms to be able to support our franchised branches that are individually owned and operated by care-professionals.
Friends Helping At Home brought me back!
This month, we focus on Compliance and Support.
Jo Craythorne, Compliance Manager heads a small team that plays a significant part in the help and support that’s provided to our franchise branches.
Jo thought that she had left the care sector after relocating to Plymouth.
“When I discovered Friends Helping At Home, I decided to return to care as I truly like what they have set out to achieve, a business model that enables care to be delivered the way that it should. The Friends Helping At Home culture is more than just tick-box compliance, but ensuring as the business grows that the ‘Friends’ culture isn’t lost and that everyone is able to flourish.”
Safety first
Friends Helping At Home provides the compliance framework and resources for our service providers, or carers, and local franchised branches to be able to deliver a consistently high standard.
Our way of working has been described as a breath of fresh air and just what’s needed to attract the best carers who want to develop their career, with a genuine passion and vocation for care.
Our self-employed carers are able to earn significantly more whilst keeping customer’s costs lower (compared with most traditional domiciliary care settings).
With a tried and tested governance structure, help and support from a central team that supports each local Friends Helping At Home branch, our customers can safely find the type of care that they need as well as, all the help and support that they need to remain comfortably living in their own home.
The carer journey
We take the utmost care in carrying out due diligence on every carer that is registered with Friends Helping At Home.
Every carer and service provider has an up-to-date enhanced DBS, we check to ensure appropriate insurances, qualifications and are interviewed before being able to be deployed in a branch.
The Branch Director or Manager knows all their carers and providers and makes personal introductions to every customer before any bookings are made.
Carers qualifications and experience are held in-branch (using our bespoke system) so that appropriate skills, qualifications and experience are matched with the customer’s care needs.
For example, a customer with dementia will only be matched with carers with the right qualifications and experience.
Our carers and service providers have a choice, as do our customers, so that good matches and relationships can be made.
This in practice means that customers know and will have selected the carers that they need who know them.
We also advocate that no care visit should be rushed.
We encourage social interaction between carers and the local branch owners.
There are regular monthly meetings, newsletters with access to training and personal development.
Building on sustainable foundations
Over the last year, we reviewed how we can ensure that we maintain consistency and high standards.
Andrew Richardson, CEO and Founder, said, “As the Friends Helping At Home family grows so do the risks, so we need to be able to respond appropriately to any issue that may arise.”
This has resulted in a significant investment in bespoke software, introducing routine monthly quality audits.
