A1 Home Care Ltd

Jan/Feb/March with the snow and icy conditions the carers were great and getting to me on time.

My first experience with a care agency for my mother and I was determined to get it right. Once the agency, carers and our family had established the most appropriate care and it may take a little time to get to know the required needs, it turned out to be excellent. I have found the carers are friendly, respectful and conscientious. Most of them go that 'extra mile' to ensure it is a service with dignity. Carers have achieved an excellent routine and there always seems to be a lot of friendly laughter and banter, which is an added bonus for my mother who is struggling with her disability. My husband and I have my mother live with us and we now have confidence that she is in safe, considerate hands when we are not at home. Should we have any queries or problems the management deal with matters very promptly. The needs of the cared for person change with time and this agency has adapted to my mother's needs. If you let the management know what is needed, I feel they will do their utmost to comply.

I have daily carers to assist my husband get out of bed, washed and dressed. Had this service since February 2017. All the staff are excellent and look after my husband with care. He is very happy when they call.

Excellent communication between carers and my mother. Liaison between their manager and our family has bee admirable.

The carers are always punctual and reassure mum before using the hoist as previously my mother was very upset when being hoisted bed to commode then commode to chair.

Everything is done with care and dignity.

Exceptionally good management. Excellent timing of weekday visits. Carers well trained and very capable and seek rapport with the service user. Very good level of communication between carers and management. Very good reference material on site with client to advise staff. Very good use of modern technology to automatically log time and duration of visits via app on phone. Short notice requests to change timings/service agreed to. Invoicing prompt and accurate. Office easy to contact; all staff courteous and have a 'can do' approach at all times.

A1 looked after my dad in the later stages of his fight with prostate cancer, they treated him with the utmost dignity and kept a smile on his face. Sadly he lost his fight but having amazing care enabled us to focus on quality time.

I have a brilliant rapport with my helper. He has been with me 12 years now and he has enabled me to nearly live an independent life. He will help me with my general day to day jobs and help me when I am unable to sort it out. Only by guiding me in what to do to get it sorted out, no hands on help required. He will let me get it done by my own diligence and perseverance till I get it right.

When I needed care I contacted 2 organisations, A1 as recommended by my son's neighbour and also another who we had heard about. Both came to visit me one very business like and yourselves much more friendly and 'homely'. There was not any doubt who I preferred and you started shortly afterwards. I have enjoyed your helpers (with possibly two exceptions) and look forward to their visits and help. Thank you for looking after me.

Satisfactory.

Helpful efficient service

We are generally very pleased with the service if there are any problems they are resolved with a phone call

On the whole, the care is satisfactory. Some carers are more 'caring'. There are those who rush the job and do not always do common sense things, such as put a cardigan on if the weather is cold.
The care is usually rushed and rarely do the carers stay for the full 30 minutes.
The evening care, in particular, is rushed. This month, November, the average time spent with my mother is 12 minutes and she is paying for 30. She would like a more relaxed routine and a little time spent chatting before bed would be nice.

Pretty good. Sometimes late arrival if they are pushed.

Fairly new permanent agency after temporary ones. Handover process very smooth.
Clean and precise contact details for emergency. Carers are coming promptly to time specified and contacted me when they were unavoidably late on one occasion. Some of the carers are better than others, but are all doing what is specified. The odd ones will do the little extras.

I am never there when carers arrive at my mum's. A bit ridiculous when my Mum can not have her medicine because the carer doesn't know what a 5ml medicine spoon looks like. Out of order when my Mum cannot have a suet and bacon Roly poly for her dinner as carer refused to heat it in the microwave as wasn't in a packet with heating instructions.

We have a good service with all the staff that visit us. Very helpful and helpful.

My husband has 2 or 3 carers who come on a regular basis. These carers are really good and keep good time. My husband is very happy with them. However, there only appears to be 2 carers who can fit convenes. On an odd occasion when other carers have come and attempted to fit the convene it has resulted in a wet bed. The training for this would be better done if a new carer came with an experienced one to show them how it is done. I feel the training of new carers is inadequate.

Only been with this agency for three weeks and find them to be very good, efficient and helpful.