Elderly home care improves in Oxfordshire

Personal care in Oxfordshire is set to be given a boost from an £800,000 windfall from Oxfordshire County Council. Under the new proposals, stairlift users are to benefit from longer personal care visits after Oxford East MP Andrew Smith criticised visits lasting 15 minutes or less last year. It is hoped that a longer timeframe will improve relationships between the carer and the elderly resident, as well as provide enough time for home maintenance to be carried out, which some less mobile residents cannot do themselves.

As a part of a £4 million pledge, some of the money is being used to provide better home care to Oxfordshire’s stairlift users and other vulnerable residents. It is hoped that the money invested in home care by Oxfordshire County Council will put an end to questions over the state of the previously criticised service and see local residents benefit as a result.

Carers and the elderly

It is thought that the extended visits will not only benefit those elderly residents who receive the care but also the carers themselves, as it will enable them to have more time to carry out tasks and to get to know their individual clients. Walk in showers and baths, a homelift and other home help can only go so far and the new extended visits will now enable carers to perform tasks such as cleaning, cooking, dressing, washing and just spending quality time with each resident in a much more thorough fashion.

The extended visits, which will rise from 15 minutes to half an hour, are due to be phased in as early as next year, with Mr Smith MP stating in this article, “I am very pleased the concerns are being listened to”. These new time guidelines will allow for better relationships between carers and their clients to be formed, as well as the provision of a higher level of care that will be beneficial to all.

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