Has anyone used a visiting carer service for housework?

[BatmansBoxers]

I'm considering doing this because one of my kids has been severely unwell and I've got lots of medical appointments for her, and for myself for unrelated reasons. I'm exhausted and the hospital episode has also upset my other children.

I'm considering this for cleaning, laundry, collecting shopping and mowing the lawn. Anyone done this? Yay or nay?

If you are paying privately, then of course you can employ someone to do these jobs, whether or not your DC has medical appointments. Sounds very sensible.

However, if your DC has a disability and you are intending to use Direct Payments from the Local Authority to pay for someone to do these tasks, then check whether your LA allows the funding to be used for this first.

Yes I'll be paying privately for this, I'm trying to temporarily reduce the workload on myself and my partner

Never done it, but I work for a private care agency and we have several contracts for domestic work and shopping. We don't do gardening but I'm sure some companies do offer it.

It will probably be more expensive than paying individuals but the flip side is if your regular can't come the company would always send someone else. They would also do a written "care plan" (even though you don't need care tasks) and a write up of what was done on each visit.

My parents’ carers change beds, empty bins, unload the dishwasher, do laundry and shopping if neither of them feel like going out. They don’t garden or clean, parents employ others for that.
If you are paying, discuss what you want. Of course it makes sense to lighten the load and enable you to focus on priorities.

I’m in receipt of direct payments due to my disability and they cover my children being taken to and from their school and a cleaner 2hrs a week.
This is absolutely invaluable to me, I don’t know what I’d do without it.

I don’t like asking for help, but I called adult social services who did an assessment based on needs. They also got funding for adjustments to be made to my home in order for me to be able to do things independently as much as possible- additional handrails, grabrails, a wet room.

There is help out there, you just need to ask for it.

Being a carer must be exhausting, so do what you can to lighten your load. You have my utmost respect and admiration for managing this far

You may find it hard as lots of cleaners wouldn’t do shopping or garden. Carers May only do domestic alongside personal care. You would be better of advertising for someone who would’ve happy doing al sorts of jobs

It's not cleaners I've found visiting carers that do it but I feel a bit silly when they usually deal with elderly people, it would really help though

I use care agency I’m not old! If they are happy to do it- go for it. It will improve quality of life while you hopefully recover

Akire are they helpful and reliable? That's the main thing I need!

The good thing with agency is you can say you don’t want someone back. I’ve had some great people, loads of “oks but need nudging” and a few disasters. Some agency’s are worse than others for not giving staff Time to move. So If a call is important at a set time you need to be very clear. If they are running late they should let you know.

Speak to the agency and explain what you need so they can send someone who best fits. Don’t be afraid to have to keep nudging them. For example today I would like a b c doing. Or the temptation can be spend 45m doing job A that should take 20min.

You may have to be really specific about cleaning which can feel funny at first. That’s why I was surprised if care agency was happy to do just cleaning. You may be better of having a proper cleaner for same or cheaper rate than carer. Then use agency for other jobs that cleaners will not do. If I don’t say can you pick up that book off the floor then many people will just sweep and mop around it for example. Others will wash up but not think to wipe down kitchen counter. Just because it’s stuff you do automatically doesn't mean that’s how other people do it same way. Give it a go and don’t be afraid to sort it out the way you want it.

Could you get a weekly cleaner, a gardener and then shop online?