Contents What is Live-In Home Nursing? For how long do you provide nursing care? What do your Private Nurses do? What facilities do we need to provide for the nurse? What if the client requires nursing care during the day and night? If a client already has a District Nurse and/or MacMillan Nurses visiting on a regular basis, is a Live-In Nurse necessary? What happens if your nurse goes sick or has to leave the client s home suddenly? What happens if we book a nurse but need to cancel shortly before she arrives or at some time during the assignment? Can we postpone the start of care or interrupt the service for a short time? What if I have a complaint? How do I book a nurse? Do I need a Carer or a Nurse? What is a Care Plan? Can your Live-In Nurses provide care for patients with serious illnesses and conditions? Do you provide Live-In Nurses and nursing at home to all areas of the UK? Consultus Nurses What professional checks do you make on your Nurses? What hours do your Live-In Nurses work? What happens if a client does not get on well with the Nurse? Can Consultus help to get me registered as a Nurse in the UK? Can you provide visiting carers for an hour a day? Financial What is the cost of your service? We have a set budget and can only afford for your nurse to work a limited number of hours. Can we spread the cost of the service between two bill payers? What financial assistance is available? Page 1
What is Live in Home Nursing? Briefly, it s the care of Clients in their own homes by Registered Nurses assigned to live with them for a period of time. Our nursing management team creates rotas of suitable Registered Nurses who stay with Clients, providing one-to-one nursing care and assistance. Nurses can also help with some household chores such as shopping, cooking and light housework. Such care has huge benefits for the Client who is able to enjoy care within the privacy, safety and familiarity of their own home. For how long do you provide nursing care? Bookings may either be short or long-term, depending on need. Our minimum booking period is for 4 days. Short term bookings generally last between 4-21 days and may be for: Respite care, when a regular Nurse, carer or family member needs a holiday Rehabilitation for people who need nursing care following surgery, a period of illness, or hospitalisation Palliative nursing care for Clients who want to be in the comfort of their own home. Long-term bookings may last for months or years and cater for: Chronic medical conditions such as Multiple Sclerosis, Motor Neurone Disease, Strokes or Parkinson s Disease Dementia and Alzheimer s Disease Frail Clients who require nursing care but do not want to move into a nursing home or other institution Palliative nursing care for Clients who want to stay in the comfort of their own home. We aim to provide continuity of care with Nurses rotating on a 2 weekly cycle for longer term bookings. What do your Private Nurses do? Nurses will assist Clients with all levels of personal care and emotional support as well as a wide range of general and specialist nursing assistance, such as the administration of medicine, tracheostomy care and suctioning, PEG feeds, wound dressings and stoma care. Nurses will liaise closely with other healthcare professionals and family members, as appropriate. Other tasks may include driving, care of family pets, shopping, cooking and light housework. Page 2
What facilities do we need to provide for the nurse? Nurses should be provided with a private room that incorporates a sitting area and preferably a television, access to essential household amenities and the means to benefit from three good meals a day. If there are two Nurses living in then both must have a private room; a second room may sometimes be made available in a nearby relative s home. What if the client requires nursing care during the day and night? If a Client needs a Nurse to be on waking duty then two Nurses can be supplied, one working during the day and the other at night. If the Client only requires assistance once or twice a night for short periods then the day Nurse can assist at the appropriate overtime rate. However, if a day Nurse is regularly getting up more than twice per night then additional assistance at night will be required. If a client already has a District Nurse and/or MacMillan Nurses visiting on a regular basis, is a Live-in Nurse necessary? You need to consider whether local visiting Nurses alone can do enough to meet the needs and aspirations of the Client: Local Nurses tend to vary on a daily basis and are available for limited visiting times only. A Live in Nurse provides friendly, skilful and ever present care on a continuous basis. This is valuable to people who are intensely private, who have trouble remembering or who become distressed at seeing a succession of different faces If there s an emergency after the local Nurse leaves then the Live in Nurse is there to provide instant practical help and emotional support. She will knowledgably liaise with the emergency services A Live-in Nurse typically assists with many of the household chores and allows family members and friends to spend more quality time with the Client Consultus Nurses work closely with the local primary care team so that the identified benefits of nursing are complemented and enhanced throughout the day and night. What happens if your nurse goes sick or has to leave the client s home suddenly? Our aim is to ensure that there are no interruptions to nursing care. We have a team of qualified Nurses who are able to travel at short notice. Page 3
What happens if we book a nurse but need to cancel shortly before she arrives or at some time during the assignment? By the time the Nurse arrives at the Client s home, the nursing management team will have put in many hours of preparatory work. At the same time, a Nurse will have committed herself to a booking which typically lasts for 14 days or more. Without some agreed protection she would probably earn no money for a week or more while another suitable placement is found. For these reasons, we charge a Late Cancellation/Early Release Fee that is equivalent to up to seven days service (proportionately less if the service was due to end in less than a week or was not to begin for another day or more). We pass on to the Nurse the vast majority of this fee. If the client has died, the Nurse need not leave straight away; she will willingly stay a while to help the family through this difficult time. For more information please see our Client s Guide to Services. Can we postpone the start of care or interrupt the service for a short time? Delays to hospital discharge can force postponements to confirmed bookings, leading to a necessary delay in our Nurse s arrival. Similarly, you may request a break in service due to a temporary hospital admission. In these instances, to avoid the break-up of an established rota, it may be possible for the Nurse to remain on paid standby. Please ask for details or see our Client s Guide to Services. What if I have a complaint? Consultus fully prepares and double checks the arrangements of every booking, and every nurse is fully vetted and briefed so complaints are rare. However, if you do find cause for complaint please contact the Nursing Manager on: 01732 770403/355231. Alternatively you can send a written complaint to: The Nursing Manager Consultus Care & Nursing Ltd. 17 London RoadTonbridge Kent TN10 3AB You can be confident that the matter will be quickly and thoroughly dealt with. A summary of our complaints procedure can be found in your Guide to Live-in Nursing Services and our Complaints Procedure is available upon request. Page 4
How do I book a nurse? To book a live in nurse you can: Contact us directly and speak to a Nurse Consultant who will be happy to discuss your needs and preferences in detail and give you an estimated cost for the service. complete and submit the Live-In Nursing Enquiry Form; a Nurse Consultant will then make contact with you. Do I Need a Carer or a Nurse? Choosing the right people to provide your care is vital and we will help you to make the right choice. We have over a thousand staff on our books, from companions and domestics through to highly experienced Carers and Registered Nurses. Following a full analysis of your needs and preferences, our experienced Consultants (many of whom are Registered Nurses) will select from this list only those persons who they feel are entirely suitable. Advanced Tasks All our live in staff can help with personal care (assistance with washing, dressing and so on), mobility and home management. The UK s Nursing & Midwifery Council recommends that a qualified Nurse is booked for: More advanced medical conditions Management of equipment, e.g. catheters, hoists Administering (rather than prompting) medication Wound care, e.g. pressure sores Professional liaison with local healthcare professionals Consultus Live in Nurses can: Professionally assess your needs Identify any risk to client or staff (e.g. from manual handling tasks) Work with your local GP and District Nurse, if appropriate Create (with your full input) a detailed Care Plan. If you are still unsure about what type of staff you need please feel free to contact us or contact your local GP or care professional. Page 5
What is a Care Plan? Care Plans are valuable documents that describe to Nurses or Carers exactly how to perform their duties so there can be no misunderstandings during the delivery of your care. They enhance the effectiveness of the service because newly arriving staff can understand quickly and precisely how to do things to the client s satisfaction. Plans are normally written by Nurses or Social Workers. Care plans may for example include: Medication doses, times etc. What to do if medication runs low How to do personal care tasks while maintaining the client s privacy and dignity Ways to promote the client s mental and physical health and independence How to do tasks to the client s liking Dietary requirements including favourite meals Who to contact in the event of a household or medical emergency An action plan to improve any medical condition The client s system for managing shopping money and keeping track of expenses An assessment of any potential risks to clients and staff Whilst other agencies may charge 120-150 for a professionally created Care Plan, we provide one free of charge as part of a Live-in Nurse booking of one week or more. If you wish to book a Live-in Nurse please contact us. If you need only Carers please ask for the Care at Home Department. Can your Live-in Nurses provide care for patients with serious illnesses and conditions? Live-in Nurses from Consultus allow the care of even the most chronically ill patients to be transferred to the home environment. We provide Live-in Nurses for Clients with a range of conditions. These might typically include: Dementia (Alzheimer s etc.) Parkinson s Disease Strokes, Cancer Motor Neurone Disease Respiratory problems (e.g. COPD, COAD, Pneumonia) Multiple Sclerosis Diabetes Hospital acquired infections (e.g. MRSA, Clostridium difficile) Coronary Heart Disease Arthritis (e.g. osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis) Acquired Brain and Spinal injuries Page 6
Do you provide Live in Nurses and nursing at home to all areas of the UK? Consultus Live in Nurses and Carers are currently providing care and support to our Clients across the UK. We also offer live in care services to some European locations by arrangement. Our skilled and experienced Nurse Consultants will work with you to ensure that we find exactly the right Private Live in Nurse for you, wherever you are located. Page 7
Consultus Nurses What professional checks do you make on your Nurses? All Consultus Nurses have undergone the strictest selection procedure including a two hour face-to-face interview and must have: their qualifications and documentation verified by the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) a minimum of three years post-registration experience and be RN1-qualified two professional references that comment on their skills and competencies a Disclosure and Barring Enhanced Disclosure evidence of their on-going Post-Registration Education and Practice (PREP) What hours do your Live in Nurses work? Our Nurses stay with their Clients for the duration of their assignment and are normally expected to work seven days a week and ten hours a day; this excludes a daily two hour break that is arranged between the Client and the Nurse. Although Nurses are available for overtime and night calls (a maximum of two calls per night), Consultus recommends that their Nurses should get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep each night. If this is not possible on a regular basis then other arrangements need to be made for night calls or awake-nights. This may necessitate employing two Nurses working day and night or employing the services of a local agency. What happens if a Client does not get on well with the Nurse? Many of our long established Clients reveal to us that their biggest initial fear was having an unfamiliar person living in their home. Gratifyingly, nearly all our Clients follow up with very positive feedback on their initial experiences with Home Nursing. Our Nurse Consultants spend a great deal of time matching Clients with Nurses to meet specific preferences and requirements. As with any homecare agency, it is normally not possible for you to meet your Nurse before she arrives for work. However, if required, our Nurse Consultant can arrange for you to speak with a prospective Nurse before a booking commences. If in the very unlikely event you are unhappy with our choice of Nurse we will find you a replacement at no additional cost to you, or you have the option of cancelling the booking immediately. Please see our Client s Guide to Services for full details. Page 8
Consultus Nurses Can Consultus help to get me registered as a Nurse in the UK? Yes, Consultus has links with a South of England University, which can quickly put you through the Overseas Nursing Programme (ONP) so that you can work as a Registered Nurse. While you re training, we may be able to offer you work as a Live in Carer. Can you provide visiting carers for an hour a day? Consultus specialises in Live in Care and Nursing and does not offer a daily visiting care service, though we do offer an alternative to visiting home care. Live in Care is an excellent, highly cost-effective care solution for people who need a lot of personal care, companionship or housekeeping assistance each day. If you need night-time reassurance, you may find that live in care even costs less than booking local agency sleep-in staff. To find out more please stay on the Consultus website. If you decide you do not need a Live-in Carer, or your live-in helper needs professional assistance at certain times of the day or night, you may like to book a visiting healthcare assistant through a fellow member of the United Kingdom Home Care Association: UKHCA Find a Member. Tel. 020 8288 5291 Page 9
Financial What is the cost of your service? Many individuals and their families do not realise that live in nursing is an option or perhaps believe that having a Private Nurse at home would be too expensive. The cost of having your own Live-in Nurse depends on a number of factors which are discussed in detail with one of our experienced Nurse Consultants. Please contact the Nursing at Home division for more information. In line with our commitment to providing an excellent service, we aim to offer not only the best, but also the most cost effective live in nursing service in the UK. In addition, many financing options and state benefit schemes do exist and these enable our clients to enjoy ongoing 24/7 nursing care in the comfort of their own home (for more information please see Funding Options Handbook below). Funding Options Handbook Consultus has published a valuable guide to funding options for a Live-in Nurse or Carer and it is available as a free download from this website. The purpose of the Funding Options Handbook is to briefly illustrate ways in which Live-in Nursing and Caring are often financed. As well as looking at various financial products that are available we provide a summary of the help a Client can get from the state and local councils, together with contact details of organisations that can provide more information. The guide also contains details of NHS Continuing Care and other state aid that can partly or fully pay for a Live-in Nurse We have a set budget and can only afford for your nurse to work a limited number of hours. Live-in Nurses are contracted to work for ten hours a day, seven days a week during the duration of their booking (excluding handover days which will be shorter); they will not expect a day off during their stay with the client. If funds are limited and you want to avoid overtime payments you can state a preferred maximum number of hours that the nurse should work. Of course it s impossible to say that no overtime will ever be claimed if, for example the client genuinely needs assistance at night. In such a situation the office staff will liaise closely with you over any extra payments envisaged and a contingency plan will be formulated usually involving a degree of flexibility from both parties. Page 10
Financial Can we spread the cost of the service between two bill payers? Yes. If payment for the service is to be met by two people or organizations then we can raise two time sheets and two invoices. Of course, you will need to agree with the other party the proportion of the costs that you will both be prepared to pay, including any overtime. Where the cost of the service is to be shared we and our Nurse should ideally have one point of contact in regard to clinical matters, time sheets and local supervision. What financial assistance is available? There are various financing options and state funding schemes available to assist a Live-in Nursing Service. Consultus has published a valuable guide to these options and it is available as a free download from this website. To obtain your copy of the Funding Options Handbook click this link. Consultus Live-in Nurses may be provided to NHS Continuing Care clients via some local Primary Care Trusts and Health Authorities. Page 11