Anyone in Edinburgh? Carer recommendations.

[AChickenCalledKorma]

Just wondering if anyone is in Edinburgh and has experience of home help/home carer services that they would recommend?

My parents are in the city and have suddenly become in need of support after mum had a stroke a couple of months ago. She's been having daily visits from a carer through social services, but that's not going to last much longer and I'm worried that they will struggle if they are left to their own devices. Dad has Parkinsons and is coping heroically, but is getting tired and stressed and finds it hard to deal with stuff over the phone because he forgets what he's saying. I think I need to help them arrange some sort of home help but it's hard to do from a long way away.

If anyone had any recommendations for a local service that might help with stuff like laundry, changing beds, shopping and a bit of personal care, I'd be very grateful. I'm going to be with them for a few days over Christmas, which will give me the chance to speak to some people face to face, but it would be good to have more idea where to start.

Longer term, they want to move near me but right now they just aren't up to it.

Only just read this. Is there a branch of Home Instead in Edinburgh? It's a franchise. We changed to them from another company, and the quality of care is much higher than the first company we used. They do all of the tasks you list, except shopping (we live locally and do that).

DH went to talk to several companies to decide who to use, and decided after speaking to them in detail. That won't tell you anything about the carers themselves, but you can suss out how quickly the company can change the care hours and duration (which turned out to be very necessary for my PILs as their needs kept changing).

I should say, I'm sure they would offer a shopping service, we just haven't needed it for my PILs. Hope you find someone soon - it's not an enviable position to be in.

Another vote for home instead. Really good and very responsive.

Thank you both. Yes, there is a branch of Home Instead in Edinburgh and I've had a brief look but saw mixed reviews. It's good to hear positive stories and I think I'll check them out.

Things changed after I wrote my message and mum is back in hospital which to some extent takes the immediate pressure off. But I'm going to see if I can get Dad to sign up to the idea of having a bit of support and then I guess I can make some progress by talking to companies over the phone and take it from there.