Our Platinum 4 Star and Gold Standard care services promote choice, independence and the best of possible outcomes for you or the person you love

Our employed staff and agency workers are fully skilled in providing 24 hour care to those who may experience the following frailties or illnesses:

•    Physical Disabilities
•    Palliative Care
•    Short–term memory loss
•    Mental Health Difficulties
•    Dementia-related conditions
•    Learning Difficulties
•    Intermediate (Short Term Intensive) Care conditions
•    Sensory/Dual Sensory Impairment needs

Or we offer support to those who may simply need companionship, help around the house or with some care and mobility assistance.

Live in care and holiday support services may be provided by either an employed social/health personal care assistant or the ‘Introduction’ of a self-employed social/health care worker enabling a best value approach for the service user so you may continue to live in your own home or travel, secure in the knowledge that assistance is available at anytime.  The key people we recommend will be equipped with the appropriate skills for your requirements.

How much will the service cost?

This is dependent on the agreed outcomes of the service. Our self-employed Live In ‘Introduction’ service normally begins at £497.00 per week for companionship duties; which includes the agreed social/health care worker salary (paid directly by you to the social care/support worker) and our administration fees.  You can negotiate a lower cost directly with the care worker.

What part of UK do the services cover?

To provide the best quality tailored care we restrict our service to London, Wiltshire, Bournemouth and Dorset, Bristol and Somerset, Plymouth, Devon and Cornwall; that is the South and South Western Counties.

How do we select and train our staff and self-employed workers?

We have a full 5 day Interview and Induction Training week, obtaining and checking two written references, provision of an Enhanced Disclosure (CRB) checked against the PoVA and PoCA lists, further checks take place to ensure the candidate complies with all relevant employment regulations such as the Asylum and Immigration Act and Working Time Directive; and if working as self- employed we have firm confirmation of correct status. Training & Development certificates and records are kept up to date by the requirements of our organisation.

Our sister training organisation follows an extensive and comprehensive ‘Skills For Care’ common induction training and development programme for all employees and agency workers: which also encompasses the organisations beliefs such as service user respect, choice, dignity, privacy and the promotion of independence.

Over 70% of our care and support staff are at least NVQ Level 2/3 Health & Social are qualified.  Our rigorous selection  and training procedures are well known & documented within the organisations Policy manuals.

How does Sunshine Care support you?
Service users are provided with the organisations comprehensive ‘Complaints Guide’ on commencement of the service and are encouraged to speak to any member of administration staff regarding issues or concerns. We acknowledge that occasionally things may not go as planned. We encourage feedback from our service user’s regarding any issues.  We will act swiftly to correct anything that goes wrong, continuously learning from you and your feedback.

Following the successful introduction for self-employed live in care services the social/health care worker becomes an employee of the service user and not the organisation the service user would be responsible for the guidance, supervision and control of their own care and support staff .

Whilst the organisation promotes best outcomes and encourages best practice and compliance with policies and procedures at all times to its workforce; as a self-employed social/health care worker it is the service user and not the organisation who the worker must look to for direction control and supervision.  The organisation has developed comprehensive policies and procedures for the protection of the service user which can be requested at any time.

The social/health care worker should not be encouraged to have family or friends to visit them at a service user home without permission from the service user and their family.  We recognise that the relationship between service user and social/health care worker is an intimate one and should be built on trust and honesty.

For self-employed Live In introduction services the social/health care worker remains under the direction control and supervision of the service user at all times. The client is responsible for payment of wages to the self- employed social/health care worker and the appropriate agreed administration fees, four weeks in advance, to the organisation.

We will soon be offering e-learning as an alternative to traditional class room 4-day Induction Training for our Domiciliary Home Care and 24-hour Live-in Care employees.

Sunshine Care, who pride themselves on having successfully provided in-house training for many years, will be launching their new E-Induction programme, which we hope will show the huge advantages of e-learning:

Convenience: Traditional offline training normally means employees need to collectively leave the workplace; this is not the case for e-learning.
Cost: E-learning is much more cost effective as learning can be done one candidate at a time.
Time: E-learning allows you to undertake your training whenever and wherever you want.

We will be joining a number of leading care organisations who have recognised these advantages and who have recently introduced e-learning into their training.
Sunshine Care will be gradually introducing more short Health & Safety and Social Care training courses into our e-portfolio.  These will be offered out to other local care agencies and care homes as part of the new range of services offered by their new sister organisation, Sunshine Care Training Ltd.

Direct Payments - What are they?

Direct Payments are an alternative way of providing social care services to those people who need support to live independently in the community. Following an assessment of needs and an agreement that eligible needs will be met, South Hams Social Services will give people the choice of having social care services arranged for them or trying a Direct Payment.

Basically, a Direct Payment gives individuals requiring social care support the opportunity to arrange and pay for it themselves. Being able to arrange and control services to meet eligible needs means people can organise their lives flexibly on a day-to-day basis. It also means that people have a bigger choice in how to meet their eligible needs.

Where can I go for help
Contact for Devon
Care Direct: 0845 1551 007
www.devon.gov.uk/

What is diabetes?

Diabetes mellitus is a condition in which the amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood is too high because the body cannot use it properly. Glucose comes from the digestion of starchy foods such as bread, rice, potatoes, chapattis, yams and plantain, from sugar and other sweet foods, and from the liver which makes glucose.

The symptoms of hypoglycaemia can include:

•    headache,
•    mental confusion (which may include aggressive behaviour),
•    slurred speech,
•    abnormal behaviour,
•    loss of memory,
•    numbness,
•    double vision, and
•    Temporary paralysis and seizures (fits).

If you are hypoglycaemic, you may also experience trembling, faintness and palpitations, and excessive sweating. Sometimes, behaviour can be irrational, and disorderly, and may be mistaken for drunkenness.

Where can I get advice?
www.diabetes.org.uk 
www.bda.uk.com (British Diabetes Society)
Tel 0121 200 8080
Fax 0121 200 8081

Hypothermia

I am sure that many of us will welcome the opportunity to help vulnerable neighbours to avoid some of this winter’s dangers.  Without causing alarm, we would like to increase awareness of the symptoms of hypothermia, and we feel that it is important to encourage older people to claim their full range of benefits, and to spend their winter fuel allowance wisely so that they increase their spending on keeping their homes warm.

Hypothermia is caused when the body’s core temperature falls below 35ºC.  The signs and symptoms can be:

•    Shivering at first, muscle stiffness as the body gets colder.
•    Skin cold to touch and pale in colour.
•    Confusion and low response levels, which can lead to unconsciousness.

Generally it is best to wear several layers of thin clothing under a warm jumper as body insulation.  Prepare a warm flask of soup or hot beverage and keep this handy to raise body temperature during cold snaps.  Try to move around and exercise as much as possible.  Keep your phone or piper alarm close to hand.  Change any wet clothing as soon as possible.  Fit draught-proofing to help seal gaps around windows and doors.  Further information about easy exercises you can do while sitting down that will help you to stay warm and mobile is available from the Age Concern Information Line, on 0800 00 99 66.

Other useful Telephone Numbers are:
Warm Front Scheme  0800 072 0151 – for grants to make homes warmer.
Winter Fuel Payment – 08459 15 15 15 for people aged 60 and over.