Care workers trek through snow to reach elderly home alone

Bedbound elderly and disabled are being made a priority home care call as snow hits much of the UK, with a red alert issued for care workers to attend.

'I've been up since half five this morning'

With an amber weather alert issued for parts of the UK by The Met Office on Friday morning 1 February, warning of a potential threat to life - the home care firm Unite Care Group has been issuing its own red, amber and green alerts to make sure the those reliant on care visits are not left stranded.

“I’ve been up since half past five this morning, planning and rearranging staff”, said Sarah Caseres, co-director and manager of Unite Care Group, which operates in Cardiff and surrounding areas.

“Some have been unable to get to clients because of school closures and bad roads".

“We haven’t had to cancel calls, we have just moved calls”, she told homecare.co.uk.

Red alert for bedbound

Its red, amber and green system ensures bedbound people living at home alone are the firm’s first priority “because they are the most vulnerable”.

Those who can get up and out of bed but need help for example with breakfast or medication monitoring are flagged as an amber alert and may be moved to a later time.

People who requested a social call or a domestic chore, such as cleaning, are assigned ‘green’ and may have their visit moved to the following day.

The manager said when she contacted clients, she found some living with family no longer needed a home care visit because their partner/family was unable to get to work and was with them at home instead.

“This meant, we could attend to more urgent calls".

'People forget staff are just as important'

Unite Care Group, which began operating last August, has a team of 13 staff and over 25 home care clients. Ms Caseres said: “I am in contact with all the care workers, we are all on a What’s App group."

To reach elderly and disabled people, some care workers resorted to parking their cars further away and walking the undrivable roads to clients’ homes.

“Last night, we moved [home care visits] calls to earlier slots so that staff could get off the road and get home earlier. They all got home by about 9.30-10.30pm last night. People forget staff are just as important as the clients.”

The home care firm (@unitecaregroup) earlier tweeted ‘We expect there to be delays in our care service today, but there will be a care service.’

Ms Caseres added: “The staff. We can’t fault them. We can’t praise them enough”.

Unite Care Group was just one of many home care firms battling the weather to care for those in need.

Home care group St Monica Trust tweeted: 'Amazing work from our Care at Home team.

'Fighting through the snow to provide essential support to older people in their own homes in Bristol & North Somerset. Chick, Tash, Di, Jayne, Kerrie and Deb - you are all heroes!'

Celia Jenkins, a home care worker for the firm Home Instead tweeted about her walk to a client's home with the words: 'Always a CAREGiver, come rain or shine (or snow!!)'.

Snow swept through the country on the night of 31 January, causing major travel disruption with some motorists stranded on roads in sub zero temperatures.