The gift of care from County Care Berkshire

 

 

We give families back some personal time. Having completed the daily tasks that go into caring, families can enjoy relaxed time together again without the pressure of having to undertake take tasks of feeding, cleaning and treatments etc. When a family member is taking on the role of care, it can be physically and emotionally demanding. With our carers support, it creates a space for close family members to get some personal time back again. 

 

 

Knowing that a close relative is being provided with top quality care eases many worries. It means partners and families can focus their attention on the next stage of the process, whether it’s looking ahead to residential care or rehabilitation and coming to terms with the changes that may follow. 

 

 

Our carers are committed to positively changing their client’s lives. They undertake a multitude of tasks for younger patients like helping with physical exercise, taking them to tutors, educational visits or day trips. Seeing patients achieve, improve and recover is one of the most enjoyable aspects of their work. We take our younger charges swimming at the leisure centre, to Thorpe Park, to Camp Mohawk and the Thames Valley Adventure playground amongst others. 

 

 

Family time can be hard to manage, particularly with children with disabilities. A patient’s frustration, tiredness and pain has a knock on effect on other members of the family. Having a carer to support the family changes the dynamic. We’ve seen how coming in fresh to a situation can divert a patient’s attention. Quite often with the closeness of carer-client relationships, patients look forward to the arrival of their carer as part of the daily routine. With the help of our carers, families win back valuable family time to enjoy each other’s company. 

 

 

Overnight care is a growing service we’re able to provide. We are on hand to settle a client back to sleep if they’re getting up confused in the night. We can administer prescribed medication as required while a patient is recovering. Our service is a ‘waking night’ where the carer stays awake all night or a ‘sleeping night’ where they are on hand and have a monitor to alert them to a patient waking up. 

 

 

Our carers become part of the family and are included in the circle of care. By taking on the duties of caring, immediate family have a chance to recharge emotionally and physically with the reassurance the patient is in safe hands. For parents’ we’ve been able to see how much it means to them to have time to go to an exercise class, read a book or even have a long, hot bath while their family member is cared for. 

 

 

Siblings of children with disabilities can sometimes feel left out when their parents’ attention is focussed elsewhere. With a carer in situ, not only will the sibling gain more time with their parents, they also gain precious time with their brother or sister. Once a patient is fed, washed and in a peaceful state, children can play together and enjoy each other’s company without distractions. 

 

 

A teenage patient achieving his GCSEs recently was a cause for celebration all round at County Care Berkshire! Our carers are invested in the recovery and rehabilitation of patients and get enormous job satisfaction from seeing a patient achieve physical, mental and emotional milestones on their route to better health and wellbeing. 

 

The gifts also go the other way – from patients to carers. Our carers find their work incredibly rewarding emotionally. They learn new skills from the many courses we send them on, they learn new ways of helping their patients each day and get fulfilment from seeing their patients progress.