Anyone really know which is the BEST care agency?

[Shubsy]

So we've been using one of the well know agencies for the last few years at exorbitant cost. Their website looks amazing, their Trust Pilot reviews are great but inspire of completing page after page after page of my MILs likes and dislikes they continue to send people she cannot understand, who have absolutely nothing in common with her. The pages detailing her hobbies, likes & dislikes and strange peccadilloes seem completely pointless when they send her someone who hates cooking and has never done crossword in their life. She is lucky in that money is not a problem, so theoretically we could change and go anywhere but are they all the same and is it true that there is a shortage of carers hence you have to 'take what you're given'? Her current carer is due to stay with her until after Christmas, she's only been there for two weeks but we already have a bad feeling (she boiled the sausages then went to bed with period pains) I can already see my sprightly, funny, acerbic 95yo MIL starting to get depressed. Can anyone recommend a really amazing, truly caring agency who actually do what they say on the tin and try to match client with carer?

*in spite of

Are these Live In carers?

Yes, full time live in carers.

Thornbury is known to be the best for registered nurses; I believe they have carers too.

Honestly, it doesn't matter how wonderful the agency is, there absolutely is a dire shortage of care workers so agencies are struggling to find any staff at all, never mind ones who like crosswords or nature documentaries or whatever. According to news reports, there are now more care vacancies than even before the pandemic. Carers are leaving for better paid work with more sociable hours, some don't want to be vaccinated so that rules them out, some left post-Brexit or when we went into lockdown and aren't/can't come back and some are just worn out from months of pandemic care. I don't think you have to just "take what you are given" and the minimum should be carers who genuinely want to do the job and who are able to communicate clearly with your MIL and profess an interest in at least some of her hobbies but you do also have to be really realistic about what you can expect beyond that.

I was employed by two agencies as a live-in carer for a few years and my experience is that the only criteria agencies use when placing a carer is ‘are you available’. The agency may have lots of info about the client but do not ask carers about what our interests/abilities are, so there is no ‘matching’ really.
All live-in carers are supposed to be competent home cooks but this is never checked. I usually did short placements (2-4 weeks, either to cover a main carers holiday, a first placement in an emergency situation or when an existing placement had broken down) and regularly had clients and their families amazed, and hugely appreciative, when I asked what the client liked to eat then cooked this for them - many carers seem to just serve supermarket ready meals and tinned soup.
Same with such things as doing crosswords, reading aloud to client, finding films and music they enjoyed - doing this is not the norm for live-in carers unfortunately. It really should be, but it seemed to me that so long as the client was kept safe and clean and were given correct meds, then the agency, the carer and the client’s family considered that a job well done. It’s depressing.
To be fair to live-in carers though it can be an exhausting job and although the agency are paid exorbitant fees the carer only gets about half of that.

Thank you for your replies - I googled Thornbury straight away and definitely useful to know about but it doesn't look as if they do live in care - my MIL doesn't really have any medical needs atm she's just inclined to climb up ladders if nobody is looking! Wisterical are you available?! I'm joking but only partly!! Unfortunateevents I think we are quite realistic and I appreciate it's really hard - we even said to our current agency "Send her a drinker! A smoker! Just someone who likes a bit of fun, to do the crossword, enjoys painting and cooking..." is it such a big ask.......

Home Instead provided an excellent live in carer for my mum but she was a very dedicated kind lady and the franchise for my area imo was very well managed but I worked in partnership with the agency and we visited every day as I lived round the corner so the carer got to know me and my children so we built a really good relationship and routine . The relief carer was excellent as well . Both ladies had a unusual set of circumstances which led them to doing the job. My mum though was easy going in her final stages of dementia when she needed a live in carer and didn’t need “entertaining” as such . The previous existing carers who were part of a team of 3 would take mum out and would do more of that for live in at carers break time each day . That worked well . My mum accepted he intimate care from the live in carer better . She viewed her more as a nurse type figure as well as the housekeeper role . She did a mixture of home cooked but as mums appetite diminished it was more the tiny meal for one meals from M&S , but she always made an effort . I will be eternally grateful for her and the others dedication . They supported me too and gave me a lot of peace of mind.

I have worked with several people who have had a live in carer, I was there in a double up capacity. The company they use is a company called Consultus, all the carers I met seemed really good and adaptable to the likes of the clients.

Exactly my experience I'm afraid, kindness is the most we get, no chance of even putting on the kinds of tv that the client prefers. It's a tough job for sure and there are few people around. All the ones I have met recently are west African with no interest in cooking European food. I am so grateful anyone can do it though.

You can look up your local adult social care website and contact them or look online as they will have local care agencies that do live in care. It very much depends on the area you live in but some live in care agencies cover almost nationally and some are smaller local agencies with a live in carer team . Sometimes those small agencies recruit U.K. the clients they have, so it's very possible to get regular live in carers who take it in turns or one regular live in carer with different ones only for their week breaks as holidays.
You can also recruit and employ your own live in carer
Or team by advertising (eg two weeks in two weeks off) - there's support out there about directly employing personal assistants. Although that brings risk of you being responsible to find cover if someone is ill or plans fall through . Type in Independent Lives / Enham/ etc for "direct payments support and advice - but that you'll be funding not the LA, so they may charge for some of the advice/ support)

Sorry I meant Local social card dept will have list of care agencies and there will be info in those that provide live in carers. Often it's in their adult social care website and you follow links to then get a long list of care agencies and specify you're looking for live in care.

So no,I don't think there is a 'best'. Don't they mostly just advertise, anyway? I usually get a choice of two which indicates there's not many options.

A friends parents had carers from the agency country cousins and they were very happy with the care received.