Home care company set up by founder for terminally ill sister gets top marks

A home care provider set up by Gail Devereux-Batchelor after she struggled to find palliative care for her terminally ill sister, has been rated ‘outstanding’ by the Care Quality Commission.

Credit: Home Instead Senior Care (Market Harborough, Corby & Oakham)

Ms Devereux-Batchelor set up Home Instead (Market Harborough, Oadby, Corby & Oakham) back in November 2011.

She reveals: "My sister needed palliative care, but we couldn't find a reliable, high-quality service. It was Christmas time and I remember sitting on the lounge floor with my laptop on Boxing Day, desperate to find an organisation to help – and that’s when I came across Home Instead.

"I was so impressed with their ethos and values I decided to set up my own Home Instead office here in Market Harborough. Out of something very sad came something very positive: we discovered how big a difference we could make to the lives of our clients and their families."

Her sister has since died and Ms Devereux-Batchelor calls the company “my sister’s legacy, and that’s a real comfort to me”.

During its recent inspection, Care Quality Commission inspectors praised the provider as “exceptional”.

The CQC rated Home Instead Senior Care Market Harborough, Rutland and Corby as ‘outstanding’ in all five areas of inspection.

The CQC has inspected 8,090 home-care providers in England. Of those, 374 are rated as 'outstanding' with only 21 rated as 'outstanding' in all five areas of inspection (Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led).

Also known as Mill Farm, this domiciliary care agency provides personal care to people living with dementia, physical disabilities, mental health issues and other conditions.

Staff are 'exceptionally well trained'

There were 53 people using the service at the time of this inspection. In the report, inspectors found staff were ‘exceptionally well trained’ .

‘The provider had an innovative approach to training and worked with specialist agencies to train staff on how the conditions people lived with impacted their life. This supported staff to provide the support required to meet people's needs,’ the report added.

Inspectors also remarked on the way ‘people were treated with utmost kindness and compassion. They had developed trusting relationships with their care staff and considered them friends and family.’

Most importantly, the CQC found ‘people were treated like they mattered. They were empowered to share their skills and experience.’

In terms of end of life care, inspectors commented that 'the provider and registered manger were passionate about providing high quality palliative care, with staff receiving specialist training helping people to have a comfortable and pain free death'.

In addition they provide end of life training to relatives where they can learn practices to support them and other loved ones and support relatives during their bereavement.

Gail Devereux-Batchelor commented on the inspection result, saying: “I am so fortunate to have the most amazing people to work with. They all share the Home Instead ethos and this shines through in the report.

“I would like to thank all of our clients and their families for their kind words. A big special thank you goes out to our caregivers; without them, we would not be able to deliver our outstanding service.”

click here for more details or to contact Home Instead (Market Harborough, Oadby, Corby & Oakham)