Coronavirus: Home care staff are giving 'emotional support' to 'frightened and tearful' people

A home care provider in Cumbria has revealed that the pandemic as well as creating logistical challenges such as procuring enough PPE, has left staff having to give the people they care for “a lot more emotional support”.

Westmorland Homecare is based in Kendal and run by two doctors, providing hundreds of hours of care a week. Its services include home care, such as help with housekeeping and meal preparation, and personal care, such as help with dressing, bathing and getting in and out of bed.

Dr Chris Moss, who founded the company in 2017 with Dr Josh Macauley, has found running a home care service during the coronavirus pandemic has thrown up many logistical challenges, such as the need to source extra PPE, including face masks, gloves, aprons and goggles.

Demand for emotional support has risen

However he has also found the demand for emotional support has risen. “On a day-to-day basis one of the challenges for our staff is that a lot more emotional support is needed,” he said.

“A lot of people out there are scared and those with dementia or who are confused don’t understand about social distancing. And having someone arrive in PPE is quite disconcerting.

“So it’s about providing that emotional support and companionship to help people through this. We are having to try to explain things for clients and their families as people are seeing us as the experts. They ask us about PPE, how to stop infection and what they should do if someone develops symptoms.”

Both Dr Moss and Dr Macauley had experience of caring for people in their NHS roles as an A&E doctor and anaesthetist but set up Westmorland Homecare as they wanted to help people more than while they were just in hospital. The service is now one of the biggest providers of home care in Cumbria.

He is full of praise for the way staff have managed during the pandemic. “They have come into their own and risen to the challenge really well,” he said.

Home care staff are putting themselves on the frontline

“It is as scary for them as it is for the clients. They have put themselves on the line and taken the risk to go out and deliver the services because they really care about the people we are looking after and they want to make sure they feel safe and healthy.

“They have shown they can do great things and keep the community together.”

One of their home care workers, Sarah Thompson, described how she recently put in an extra call to a client because she was "frightened and tearful" when she left her at 5.30pm. “So, despite the fact that I was due back at 9pm, I popped in with some sweets for her in my own time at 8pm.”

'It's a scary time at the moment'

Another of their home care workers, Claire Stevens said: “It’s a scary time at the moment for us and our clients and we have been doing extra calls to some clients to do shopping and calls to make sure they are having evening meals, because friends and family can’t go into their homes.

“On some of my calls if I have the time I will do extra jobs because some of my clients had cleaners coming in who can no longer do so. It could be changing the bed, hoovering and making sure their home is clean.”

Other staff going the extra mile for the people they care for are Jayne, who showed a woman she cares for how to use WhatsApp so she could see and talk to her family here and her daughter, who lives abroad. While Ann Holmes baked a birthday cake for a man she cares for, on her day off because he could not get to the shops to buy one.

'We were blown away by the difference it made'

Over Easter, Westmorland Homecare delivered 150 Easter eggs, donated by supermarket Booths, to the people they care for as a surprise gift. “We knew it would be a nice thing to do but we were blown away by how much difference it made to the clients,” said Dr Macauley.

“It helped them to connect with the outside world and realise people were still thinking about them.”

Westmorland Homecare is now asking people to design and write postcards or do a painting with a positive message that can be given to a client. These can be posted to 18 Highgate, Kendal, Cumbria, LA9 4SX.

“It’s a way to engage with the community and to bring a bit of joy and brightness into their lives,” said Dr Macauley. “These small things can really lift people.”

The Care Quality Commission rated Westmorland Homecare as ‘outstanding’ in all five areas the last time it was inspected in February 2019. “We are the only homecare company in Cumbria and one of only a handful across the United Kingdom to have received this recognition for the quality of care we provide,” said Dr Moss.

click here for more details or to contact Westmorland Homecare