Working in Partnership to Support Complex Care

“I’ve been lucky enough to have the benefit of support from Calderdale Home Care Newcastle for more than two years. I’m a Shared Lives carer for a profoundly disabled young lady, who is currently 21 and living her best life getting up to mischief in the community with a team of carers from the company.

My young person requires specialised 2:1 support in the community and I know how hard Ed, the manager and Helen, her deputy, are working to ensure that everyone who works with her takes into account the three different, very major, aspects of difficulty that have had a significant impact on her brain chemistry.

I’ve looked after this young lady since she was 8 years old, so she is to all intents and purposes mine from the point of view that she is beloved and treasured, and I insist on the absolute best for her at all times. Staff at Calderdale Home Care respect that insistence and take into account every learning point I raise and every adjustment I
suggest. They are also thoughtful and sensitive about suggesting changes to me that they’ve observed might help my young person feel happier and safer in their care.

My short-term goals are that she has fun times out in the community and at home when I’m not around, and that she not only is safe but also feels safe, liked and appreciated at all times. Calderdale Home Care are brilliant at ensuring that her staff at least appear to enjoy spending time with her (and I do believe that most of them do, most of the time), so these goals are being met.

In the longer term, the plan is that in 4 or 5 years’ time, she will move into an independent supported living setting, where she will be fully supported and supervised 24/7 by her Calderdale Home Care team. It is taking some time to recruit her full team and I think that the slow progress actually speaks volumes about Ed and Helen’s determination to recruit the right people to provide her with loving, supportive, enabling care.

As for emergency situations, I can’t think of another organisation that would immediately make provision to get support to us with no notice at all. (Ed and Helen memorably spent from 6pm to 4am in my home one night, keeping my young lady safe while I dealt with another young person who needed help). They’re also flexible and do everything they can to help me do my job as well as I possibly can – some of my training is done in Harrogate, which is an 11-hour day for us, and they’ve made sure I’ve been able to attend with no fuss and without feelings of guilt.”