Befriending/Companionship service

[CorrieOrrie]

Hi there,

I currently work in healthcare (as a nurse) and I am thinking of a career change.

I want to move away from the personal care side of things and look into maybe providing a befriending/companionship service, where I work for myself.

In my role, I meet many people who live lonely, unfulfilled lives and would just like someone to talk to or the ability to leave the house. I see the pressure that is on people's family members, who are a very high risk of carer burn out.

So I was just wondering, if this would be something you/your family would pay for?

A befriending/companionship service if it were available close to you? (It would be that only, no personal care but maybe involve doing some errands, similar to a PA?)

Or is this something you could see being in demand?

Or something that you already use and would care to share your views on it?

It's just an idea in my head at the moment and I have to research and look at all the legalities of it.

I found a local charity/church group in my parents village who provide the service for free 2 afternoons a week and transport to Dr, hospital appts or shopping at 25p a mile. A lot of the volunteers themselves were elderly but mobile so they also benefitted from making friends. It was nice because they were all local with lots in common.
For areas without a community group I would think it would be popular.
My mum was always misplacing things but would make accusations of theft which was embarrassing and difficult to handle but the visitors never took it personally, so be prepared.

There is someone local to me that runs this sort of service - companionship care I think they call it. Someone to pop round, help with post, do errands, accompany the person to appointments, go out with them to the garden centre/cafe or whatever.
When my parents were alive one of their cast of helpers was a lady who would take mum out for a few hours to give dad a break and a change of scenery for mum (dad couldn't push her wheelchair due to his own mobility challenges, so once she couldn't be trusted on a mobility scooter she didn't get to go out), and that was super helpful.

OP I use something like this and it’s absolutely amazing - both me for me and the elderly parent concerned. Feel free to PM me (assuming I can work out how that works) if you’d like some detail on the service I use. Huge gap in the market.

Hi there,

I've sent you a private message :)

I want to come away from the health care aspect of my career and focus on the social impact.

There is a lot of research that I am going to do but it's good to hear everyone's experiences.

I’d be prepared to pay for the service for my elderly parents. I’m not sure they would be willing to accept such a paid service.

Someone I know in the village did this. Called "Caring Companion". It's a rural area so potentially lots of travelling but she found there was huge demand. She does whatever is required from running errands to taking the person out for lunch, trips to the shops, opticians , health appointments.
I think she does also do caring because some clients unsurprisingly have deteriorating health. So you might not want to rule that out.

Agree with this.

I would absolutely love my DPs to use a service like this, even if I had to pay for it myself. However despite badly needing more support they rejected additional help from a voluntary service - DH was there to witness this - and instead continue to pile everything on me. Unfortunately I don’t think my DPs are unique.

Yes there’s a service like this in my town. Very popular

Yes, my parents want their family to “help them”, because that’s what family does, and it brings social cachet to it. Having a volunteer visit you would be charity, and paying for it would be unacceptable as the community is supposed to look after the elderly. And I know it doesn’t make sense.

Private messages don’t come through on the app - I’m travelling at the moment but will log on and get back to you soon.

People receiving direct payments could employ your as their PA. With your nursing background your skills could be in high demand

MHA (Methodist Homes for the Aged)offer this.

There are lots of private care companies that do to. I have a friend who works as a carer like this. She goes to clients' houses, and either runs errands for them, or (more usually) takes them to run errands, or to appointments, or - quite frequently - they ask her to take them out somewhere. A talk or a concert or a wander round a garden centre etc. Although my friend only gets NMW + mileage + the client must pay for her cuppa, for example when they go out, the clients are currently paying £40 per hour (plus get charged the mileage) for the service.
I was chatting to someone else last year, who brought her client to the seated exercise class I went to for a while. It was the same arrangement - she was paid to take her out places. They'd go to some classes or things like coffee mornings or warm welcomes at Churches, or craft groups and the like.

Sounds like a lovely job.

I think there's a huge market for it, but there must be a fine line when the "needing to be accompanied" slips into "needs a bit of help with personal care". Presumably, as a nurse that wouldn't phase you too much though.

Maybe it's more of a personal assistant type service I'd offer.

As much as I do love my job, things have changed and I no longer want to do the personal care aspect of it.

I much prefer the social side and finding out about people. I'm curious and I want to know things and allow them to continue to do things they enjoy.

My role involves working alongside a lot of care agencies that offer "respite or social visits" and a lot of the feedback we get is that there are language barriers or lack of interaction.

It would be hard to know what to charge as a hourly rate. The demographic I'm in is an area with high amounts of poverty but also neighbours to a higher cost of living area.

I'd ideally like the people to feel at ease and relaxed and as if they are being supported by a family member. A home from home approach and a friendly face.

I'm very good at organising things, very punctual and I am usually able to build a good rapport and get a laugh out of most people. I have good attention to detail and like to pick up on the small things that matter.

I could tailor this to both elderly or those with other health conditions or neurodiversity and cover a wider demographic.

It's not a new idea . Home Instead is the big one in my area. There's definitely a market for it.