Our Homes Are Where Our Pets Are

A Caremark live in carer and help you look after your pets

It’s interesting that a comparison of the strength of our attachment to our homes is made with the attachment that we have to our pets. The strong bond that we have with our pets is another powerful reason why people choose live in care. Research conducted by the charity Blue Cross suggests that

Two thirds of UK older pet owners said they would be ‘devastated’ if they had to give up their pet to go into care.

The social isolation of the elderly and vulnerable is one contemporary of Britain’s great challenges. Many pet owners would say you are never alone with a pet, and there is some pretty weighty research to back this up.  A recent report from Mars Petcare and the Human Animal Bond Research Institute (HABRI) says

There is increasing evidence pets can play an important role in helping people feel less lonely and more socially connected.

To make the point again, pet owners would not need to be told that.

There is a further point to make on the issue of social isolation. Pet owners tend to be more sociable. More accurately, our pets make us more sociable. If you are a pet owner, you will know exactly what this means. Pet owners in general have something in common with other pet owners. More specifically, dog owners have something in common with dog owners; cat owners with cat owners. Lifelong friendships have been known to have been forged because of pets. This is what a piece of American research had to say:

Pets make people more sociable. As noted above, loneliness can be dire; isolation raises the risk of heart disease by 29% and stroke by 32%. An analysis of 70 studies featuring 3.4 million people found that people suffering social isolation had a 30% greater risk of dying in the next seven years. But 65% of the aging pet owners in the new survey claimed that their animals connected them with other people.”

If you speak with almost any pet owner, she will tell you about how her non-human companion helps relieve stress. Pet owners will each have their personal stories to tell; however, you can bet that quite a few will tell you about how their pets make them laugh, keep their blood pressure low and keep their hearts healthy.

For various reasons when we get older, we may feel that our lives lack meaning.  A life without meaning can be devastating for our well-being. Our pets can give meaning to our lives. To quote again from the American research mentioned above:

Pets help seniors stick to a routine. More than half (62%) of the surveyed seniors said that caring for their critters helped them keep a routine, and 73% said their pets provided a sense of purpose.

These are just a few reasons why our pets – and our homes – are good for us. Our pets and our homes – two things to which our emotional attachments are so strong. Is it any wonder that we do not want to abandon either? 

01843 235910 : 01304 892448

www.caremark.co.uk/thanet : www.caremark.co.uk/dover

thanet@caremark.co.uk : dover@caremark.co.uk

Are You a Care and Support Worker?

Working in Home Care

Working in home care can be very challenging yet extra-ordinarily rewarding. If you are working in home care you will, of course, be well aware of this. At Caremark Thanet, we have some fantastic opportunities for the right people. If you are working in home care, why not read on and see what we look for and what we can offer.

Caremark care and support workers

Caremark Thanet

We have been providing care for the residents of Thanet since 2012. In that time we have built up an enviable reputation for the exceptional quality of the care that we provide and the exceptional working opportunities that we offer. 

Caremark Thanet are part of a franchise network of over a hundred offices. The Caremark brand stands for excellence and up and down the country there are thousands of care and support workers just like you who everyday make excellent care a reality. for these people, every day excellence is the everyday.

We provide well over 2000 hours of care each week and, at the time of writing, we employ over 100 people. To put that into perspective, that is the equivalence of around 75 full time jobs. We are constantly growing; therefore, we are constantly recruiting. 

Anyone who joins us will have to buy into our ethos. Our ethos is very simple:

We believe that our customers are the most important people for our business; that our care and support workers are the most important people in our business; that a socially responsible business is most important for everyone.

Our ethos does not consist simply of words on the page. It is something that informs everything we do.

We care passionately about the Thanet community. Our approach to business is very much based upon the indivisible links that exist amongst everyone at Caremark Thanet, our customers and our community.

Thanet landscape

We live in an interconnected world. We provide outstanding care to our customers and this is one, exceptionally important, way that we contribute to the stock of community well-being. However, we do more than this.

We do more by being a community engaged organisation. We believe that supporting other community organisations and individuals also contributes to the stock of community well-being.  However, we go further.

We go further, by organising our own events. We and others engaged at those events further contribute to the stock of community well-being.

What We Look For in Care and Support Workers

There are a small number of qualities that we look for. Each of these qualities are things that cannot be taught. They will be part of your make up; part of what makes you the person that you are. These are all very much related to each other.

First, you must be caring. This may seem like stating the obvious; it is stating the obvious, but it has to be stated. Just because you are working in care it does not follow that you are caring. You have only to look at some of the horrendous abuse cases that have appeared in the media to appreciate that there are people working in care who should not be. We often talk about the mum test: would you let this person look after someone you love?

Second, you must be reliable. It is impossible to overstate how important this is. We care for some of the most vulnerable people in our society. These people come to rely upon you. They come to trust you. This places a heavy burden of responsibility upon you. You owe a duty to your customers not to let them down and harm that trust they have reposed in you.

Third, you must be trustworthy. When you work in care you become an important part of the lives of the people you care for. This is a position of trust. Abusing that trust is one of the worst things you can do.

Fourth, you must have the ability to get along with people. The people we look after come from all sections of society. Our duty, your duty, is to provide the same high quality of care to each of our customers. We are all different. We all have our beliefs, our opinions, our ways of life. To work in care you have to respect everyone, no matter what.

Fifth, you must be flexible. Things change constantly in home care. Responding to our customers ever changing needs is not an inconvenience; it's a privilege.

Sixth, you must be prepared for hard work.

What We Expect

We have the highest expectations of the people who come to work for us. You must buy into our ethos. We will never compromise on the high quality of care that we deliver to our customers: each time, every time. This places great demands on you. We offer no apology for insisting that everyone who works for us meets our exacting standards. 

We expect you to have high aspirations for yourself. And we expect you to have high expectations of us. We expect you to be self-reflective and always challenging yourself to do better. We expect you to be ambitious. We expect you to be motivated by the facts: that working for us is not just a job, it is a career; that you are never just a carer, you are one of the most important people in our business; that if you have the talent and drive to succeed, we will provide you with the opportunities for that success.

What We Offer

You should by now appreciate that working for us is not an easy option. We expect a great deal. For some we expect too much. However, for those of you who can meet our exacting standards we have a great deal to offer. 

First, we offer highly competitive rates of pay.

Second, when you join us you will undertake a full one week introductory training course - whatever your previous experience. We also use this as an extended selection process. It gives us time for a number of people to have a good look at you and decide whether you have what we are looking for. Equally, you have the chance to have a good look at us.

Care and support workers using a hoist

Third, once you have found your feet we have some of the best training opportunities that exist. The world of domiciliary care is changing. We will be at the forefront of these changes. To do this we need people with the talent and ambition to become experts at what they do. 

Fourth, we offer some fabulous progression opportunities for the right people. Most of our current management team are internal appointments. We are growing rapidly and will constantly need to expand this team. We are also opening an office in Dover, which will create more progression opportunities.

Fifth, we are a community engaged provider. We believe passionately that we have a duty to help increase the store of community well-being. And we want you to play a role in this. You will have opportunities to take part in our many community engagement events. When you work for us you are one of our ambassadors. We want you to feel that you have a connection with us and a connection with our community. Our community engagement events give you the opportunity to help us contribute to the store of community well-being.

Sixth, we are a very ambitious company. We have a very simple vision: we want to be the first choice domiciliary care provider for customers and carers. And you will play a significant part in helping us achieve this. We are a learning organisation. We always look for ways to improve. Therefore, we will constantly seek out your views. In fact, we go further than this. We believe that you have a duty to give feedback to us. If you feel that there is something we should know, it is your duty to tell us.

Seventh, the support we offer is second to none. We have an open door policy. You are welcome to speak with anyone in the organisation so long as he or she is free. We are very busy so we always suggest you telephone to make appointments; however, there is always someone available to speak with you. We will schedule in up to six one to one meetings for you. These are opportunities for you to tell us how things are going and for us to give feedback to you. It is very important that you receive feedback from us as well as you giving feedback to us.

Eighth, we will always seek to recognise your achievements. Indeed, we will go out of our way to find out what you have done that should be recognised. When you have a supervision, we will ask you to tell us about a moment of truth. A moment of truth occurs when you have an engagement with a customer - sometimes it can be a member of a customer's family or occasionally a member of the public. A moment of truth is your opportunity to delight or deflate a customer. Carers delight customers by doing something outstanding. 

In Conclusion

If we sound like the type of company you'd like to work for, why not get in touch. You can call us on: 01843 235910 or email us at thanet.recruitment@caremark.co.uk. If you want to find out more about us go to: 

Our website: www.caremark.co.uk/thanet

Our blog: http://thanetcare.blogspot.co.uk/

Our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/caremarkthanet

Our Twitter account: https://twitter.com/caremarkthanet

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or email garry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website at www.caremark.co.uk/thanet.

Why Our Homes Are Important

Home Is Where The Heart Is

It is something that every domiciliary care worker knows: there's no place like home. Have you ever thought, though, why it should be that our homes are so important to us?

Just on the edge of the Exmoor National Park there sits what must be one of the most beautiful villages in England, Dunster. Dunster puts the quintessence into the quintessential English village. In this village, there is a church, the Priory church of St George. The Priory church of St George is quite well known in the area for its bell ringing. On Tuesdays, at four hourly intervals, you can hear ring out the well-known tune, Home Sweet Home. Many years ago now, when I first heard the church bells ringing out this tune, I recognised it but thought it was called There's No Place Like Home. Those words do form part of the song's lyric, but not its title.

It is, perhaps, not surprising that there are innumerable fields of human endeavour where the concept of home has been, directly or indirectly, a subject of consideration. It is unsurprising because the evidence that we have suggests that human beings have from earliest times made homes for themselves. Home is a physical thing that produces psychological states. Our homes are much more than a protection for the frailties of our human body. Our emotional reactions and attachments to our homes are complex and manifold. Of no little importance, is the sense of well-being that we get from having in our lives these tranquil harbours that shelter us from the unpredictable storms of life.

Home is where the heart is

The saying that "home is where the heart is" was, it would appear, first uttered by Pliny the Elder (23-79 CE). I think it is equally true that our hearts are where our homes are. Many of us may have several homes during our lives; something that is increasingly the case. No doubt we will have our favourites, but it is usually the case that where we are we make our homes and that is what I mean by our hearts are where our homes are. Of course, the opposite is also the case. Our hearts do not settle where we do not want to be. We can be staying in luxury, but if we do not want to be there luxury becomes misery. The most opulent hotel can become the most oppressive institution. I think Charles Dickens meant something very similar to heart is where the home is when he wrote: "When I speak of home, I speak of the place where in default of a better - those I love are gathered together; and if that place were a... tent, or a barn, I should call it by the same good name notwithstanding."

Talking of luxury hotels, how often have you come home from holiday and told friends what a fantastic time you had but "it's good to be back home", which is exactly what Simon and Garfunkel sang:

" Gee but it's great to be back home
Home is where I want to be.

Our homes are part of us and we are part of our homes. For many of us, especially as we get older, a sense of place is important; our homes give us that. Our memories are important; our homes are memory storerooms. Our individuality, autonomy and independence are central to our identities; our homes give focus to how we see the world. This individual, emotional, engagement with our homes has been called "autobiographical insidedness". The term is a little clumsy but it does encapsulate something many of us will experience. The engagement we have with our homes is personal and different for each of us. 

When I Was at Home I was in a Better Place

There is a great deal of truth in the old maxim that familiarity breeds contempt. Many of us are guilty of failing to respect as we should those activities that we do over and over again. How often have you found yourself driving far more cautiously in an unfamiliar area than you would on the roads where you live. There is a saying about never meeting your heroes because once you get to know them (familiarity) you may well lose respect for them. However, familiarity is not always a bad thing.

Someone once said, words to the effect, that the "...harder I practise the luckier I get". There is some dispute as to who said this. Some say it was the golfer Gary Player. It doesn't matter who said it. It is far more important to appreciate exactly what it means; quite simply, becoming familiar with something can help us do things better. Can you imagine actors going on stage without rehearsing?

It is often a very good thing that we become familiar with our homes. We know that we have to turn the key just so to unlock the front door - that lock's been the same for years. Knowing our physical environments well can be particularly important as we get a little older, especially as our physical selves begin to let us down. And perhaps more importantly as our mental agility declines. There is substantial evidence to show that for people living with dementia a familiar environment, and a familiar routine reduces stress and enhances well-being.

It is, perhaps, important at this point to say that our communities are an extension of our homes. When we have lived somewhere for a while we make connections with people, places and institutions; we make connections that are social, formal and informal; we make connections that contribute to our well-being and contribute to the store of community well-being. Our community connections help combat the scourge of loneliness.

Loneliness does not discriminate. It is a state that has no sympathy for illness, for gender, for status or age. Though it is an state to which age makes us more susceptible. There is a burgeoning body of evidence that strongly supports the potential of social prescribing for reducing loneliness. Social prescribing involves health professionals prescribing for people non-clinical activities that are typically available in the community.

Perhaps, Shakespeare's Touchstone, speaking in As You Like It, knew something when he said that he was in a better place when he was at home.

Our Homes, Our Family, Our Lives

For many of us, our homes are inseparably connected with our shared lives; the lives we live with our closest friends and nearest family. Charles Dickens knew this well.

To say that Dickens’s family life was not always happy is, perhaps, somewhat of an understatement. His father was imprisoned for debt when Dickens was just twelve; his marriage was anything but harmonious, and his sons had their own financial difficulties. And yet in Dickens’s writing we often find descriptions of home and hearth that make us long for roaring log fires, extended families and domestic happiness. 

One such description is found in a later novel, Great Expectations. Although the novel is one of Dickens’s most popular, the characters I’m about to describe are not, it is reasonable to say (with the exception of the main protagonist), from the premier league of the great man’s dramatis personae. 

Pip, the main character, is first introduced to John Wemmick towards the end of chapter 20 of the novel. Wemmick is Mr Jaggers Clerk. Jaggers is a lawyer and Pip’s guardian. Wemmick lives with his father, whom he refers to as “aged P”, “aged parent” or sometimes just “aged”.  Pip gets to meet Wemmick’s father in chapter 25. 

‘“Well aged parent,” said Wemmick, shaking hands with him in a cordial and jocose way, “how am you?”

“All right, John; all right!” replied the old man.

“Here's Mr Pip, aged parent,” said Wemmick, “and I wish you could hear his name. Nod away at him, Mr Pip; that’s what he likes. Nod away at him, if you please, like winking!”’ 

The aged P is one of Dickens’s comic delights and the favourite grandfather you might  (be lucky enough to) have or always wanted to have. When Pip is hurt by the evil Miss Haversham, Wemmick suggests as a remedy “a perfectly quiet day with the Aged”.  

John Wemmick lives a life that today we would describe as hitting a pretty good work life balance. By day Wemmick is Jaggers’s henchman. He is business-like, slightly feared by those owing money to Jaggers and somewhat clinical and stern. At home he is very different. He is caring, loves his home, loves his aged P and has an engagingly tender side. For Wemmick, work and home are different spheres that never connect. 

Wemmick looks after his aging father. Here is a touching scene of filial warmth and devotion:

“…Wemmick said, ‘Now, Aged Parent, tip us the paper.

’Wemmick explained to me while the Aged got his spectacles out, that this was according to custom, and that it gave the old gentleman infinite satisfaction to read the news aloud. ‘I won't offer an apology,’ said Wemmick, ‘for he isn't capable of many pleasures - are you, Aged P.?’

‘All right, John, all right,’ returned the old man, seeing himself spoken to.

‘Only tip him a nod every now and then when he looks off his paper,’ said Wemmick, ‘and he'll be as happy as a king. We are all attention, Aged One.

’‘All right, John, all right!’ returned the cheerful old man, so busy and so pleased, that it really was quite charming.”

Dickens didn’t just tug at the heart strings he stretched them with a winch.

So Why Are Our Homes Important?

I don't think there is one simple answer to this. What is written above certainly addresses many of the reasons that our homes might be important to us. However, if I was going to sum it up in a few words I should simply ask: how would you feel if you had to leave your home?

Winston Churchill described this emotion well in one of his many letters to his wife, Clementine, “As usual I did not leave Chartwell without a pang”. Chartwell, located in Westerham, Kent, was the property that Churchill purchased in 1922 which remained his family home for the rest of his long life. It was the home that he cared for, where he loved to stay and where he longed to return when absent.

Churchill was talking about temporary absences. How much more intense is the pain of permanent absence. But why should we be surprised?

Home is where the heart is.

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or email garry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website at www.caremark.co.uk/thanet.

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Happy Easter from Caremark Thanet

From Caremark Thanet

Happy Easter 

To our customers

To our carers

To our community

Easter eggs bound for our customers, our carers and our community

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or email garry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website at www.caremark.co.uk/thanet.

Caremark Thanet Deliver Easter Eggs

Caremark Thanet Say Thank You to Its Home Care Customers and Carers

For the last five years we have delivered Easter eggs to all our domiciliary care customers and care and support workers. This year is no eggception (sorry).

If there are any eggs left after certain people have got their hands on them, we will have a number of care an support workers out delivering eggs to our customers, and each of our care and support workers will have an egg with his or her name waiting in the office.

We have also donated a few eggs to the elderly care wards at the Queen Mary the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate.

An Easter egg is a small gift but it says an enormous amount. It says thank you to our customers for trusting us to provide your care. It says thank you to our care and support workers for the often magnificent work that you do. And it says to those in hospital that we are all part of one community.

From Caremark Thanet, happy Easter to our customers, our carers an our community.

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or emailgarry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website atwww.caremark.co.uk/thanet.

You Have a Choice: Choosing Your Home Care Provider with Direct Payments

Introduction
If you are receiving home care that is funded wholly or partially through social services you have a right to choose your home care provider. There is nothing wrong with allowing social services to set up everything for you. However, you may feel that you want the independence and autonomy that comes with choosing your own provider.

Direct Payments
If you want to choose your own provider the first thing to do is ask for a direct payment. If you have qualified for social services funding, you will have been allocated a personal budget. Having a direct payment means that your personal budget is paid directly to you. This allows you to deal directly with the home care provider of your choice. For more information about direct payments, go to this article.

With a small number of exceptions, you have a right to a direct payment. 

The law is very clear about this. With a small number of exceptions, you have a right to a direct payment. Section 31 of the Care Act 2014 says that if you request a direct payment, the Local Authority to which the request is made “must” make the payment to you. In an Act of Parliament, the word “must” used in this context means that a duty is imposed on a body or bodies, in this case Local Authorities. Where there is a duty imposed on a body there is usually a right granted to another allowing enforcement of that duty. In this case you have the right to a direct payment that is enforceable against the Local Authority.

Choosing Your Home Care Provider
Once you have a direct payment, you can go about choosing your home care provider. You cannot use you direct payment for just anything. It must be used to pay for goods and services that meet your care needs. You can, however, choose your home care provider. The people who carry out your care needs assessment and financial assessment  may wish to advise you about providers ans they may suggest that you go with one of the Local Authority providers: but the choice is yours. 

There is plenty of information available about home care providers in your area. A very useful website is www.homecare.co.uk. This site has a search facility that allows you to type in your postcode and it will return home care providers within a chosen distance of that post code.

The people who carry out your care needs assessment and financial assessment  may wish to advise you about providers, they may suggest that you go with one of the Local Authority providers: but the choice is yours. 

I have written quite extensively about choosing home care providers. You will find this article very helpful.  If you are looking for live-in care, take a look at this article.

To Summarise...
...very simply: you have a choice.

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or email garry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website at www.caremark.co.uk/thanet.

It's our Birthday

It's Our Birthday...

...and we are having a party! We are Caremark Thanet and in November 2012 we were registered with the Care Quality Commission; so that makes us five years old. On Wednesday 8 November 2017 - between 2.00 - 4.00 in the afternoon - we are having a little celebration at The Yarrow Hotel in Broadstairs. We have invited all our customers and carers (and a few others) to join us for a cup of tea or coffee and a slice of cake.

Our cake is being made for us by Baps and Bloomers who are based in Sandwich - wherever possible we always like to work with local businesses as we passionately believe that when local businesses support local businesses local people benefit, the local economy benefits and, of course, local businesses benefit. Incidentally, if you are ever near King Street in Sandwich pay a visit to Baps and Bloomers: you will not be disappointed. Our cake is going to be large enough for 250 people.

We know that many of our customers will not be able to be with us on the day. So what we are doing is getting two or three of our care and support workers to hand deliver a slice of cake to each person. We're sure they'll love it.

Our Story

My name is Garry and I'm the managing director of Caremark Thanet. My wife, Jayne, and I started the company in 2012. I'd worked in education and education management for over twenty years and Jayne had been a nurse - indeed, Jayne was still working one day a week in a doctors' surgery in Ramsgate until last year. When we started the business, we had two principal aims - in addition to making a living for ourselves. We wanted to provide a very high quality care service to the residents of Thanet and we wanted to provide employment for people in Thanet. These may seem like naively noble aims; but I don't think we have fared too badly.

In December 2012, we had one customer and one carer. We were delivering about 3 hours of care per week to that one person. How things have changed. At the time of writing this article, we have cared for almost 250 people, we are delivering just short of 1500 hours of care per week and we have about 80 people working for us.Those 80 people about 45 full time jobs. In November 2016, the Care Quality Commission judge our service to be good overall.

We have a very clear ethos: We believe that our customers are the most important for our business; that our care and support workers are the most important people in our business; that a socially responsible business is most important for everyone.

Our Future

Human beings cannot foresee the future, but that should never prevent us planning for the future. Any plan is an attempt to fashion the future and there are always events that may conspire against us. However, we certainly have plans for the future. 

We aim to continue to delivery outstanding care to each of our customers. We aim to continue to grow and deliver more high quality care to more of the residents of Thanet. We aim to expand our care services into such other areas as Canterbury, Dover and Shepway. And we aim to transform domiciliary care. We believe that working in home care is a career and should offer the opportunities and benefits commensurate with having a career. We have a very simple and ambitious vision: To be Thanet's first choice domiciliary care provider for customers and carers.

If you'd like to be a part of our future, contact us today.

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or email garry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website at www.caremark.co.uk/thanet.

Airbnb Style Care: A Get Well (Re)Venue

The Challenge Facing Hospitals

It is well known that hospitals are facing major challenges in discharging patients. The equation is a very simple one: only one patient can occupy one bed at one time. Therefore, every patient who is not discharged prevents a new patient being admitted.

Many patients who are discharged require a package of care to be put in place, typically provided by home care companies. It has today been reported in several newspapers and other media that trials are to take place in Essex under which homeowners will be paid £50 a night  (perhaps up to £1000 per month) to accept patients who are discharged from hospital. The homeowner will prepare three microwave meals per day and provide a bed for the patient. It has been referred to as Airbnb style care and, obviously, there have been accusations of care on the cheap.

Who Could Possibly Benefit?

There are many arguments - social, ethical, political, business - that can be put against such a service. However, for me the most compelling argument against it is that I find it very hard to see who is going to accept - willingly - this service.

The reason I find this so difficult to fathom, is that the one group of people who might benefit from such a service are people who will need some personal care or medication support upon discharge. This is a fairly usual situation. However, the provision of a regulated activity - as many people have pointed out - must be delivered by a provider who is registered with the Care Quality Commission. The company leading this trial in Essex, a company called CareRooms, would appear not to be so registered. However, their website reads:

"We have converted spare rooms in people's private homes within the local community. These CareRooms are equipped with monitoring equipment, mobility aids, external carers and technology to educate patients on their illness/injury and how best to avoid readmission."

Forgive the note of cynicism in my voice as I point out the obvious. If the rooms are "equipped with ...external carers...", are these carers in addition to the home owner? If they are, will they be there all the time? If the answer to that is yes who pays? Even if the answer is no, who pays? And if they are carers, are they carrying out anything that is classed as a regulated activity? I could go on, but I won't. 

I won't go on because I want to share this with you.  CareRooms' website also says:

"Rent out your spare room when it suits you, get complimentary care training all the while you help those in need."

I'm sorry, but I have to state the obvious, again. Why provide care training if the people you train do not deliver care?

Just one more nugget from CareRooms:

"Assist those who want to stay in the family home and live independently longer."

Nothing wrong with that apart from the question of whose family home is being referred to?

If CareRooms are going to be providing a regulated activity, either they must have to play by the same rules as every other care company or every other care company gets to play by the same rules as CareRooms.

If there is no care - regulated activity care - then who is going to stay with a stranger after being discharged from hospital? If you need a meal preparation service only, surely you will go home and have the service provided by a domiciliary care company. Three meal preparation calls a day will be cheaper than paying CareRooms. If you are fit to be discharged, there is only one place to go: home. If you are not fit to be discharged, there is only one place to be: hospital. If you are fit to be discharged but need a little help there is only one alternative: care from a registered provider.

And Finally

I wonder if hospitals would considered renting out their beds to people looking for bed and breakfast accommodation? What do you think?

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or email garry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website at www.caremark.co.uk/thanet.

Caremark Thanet: Our Ethos, Our Values, Our Vision, Your Care, Your Choice

Introduction

My name is Garry Costain and I’m the managing director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider serving the residents of Thanet. The company was set up by my wife, Jayne, and me in 2012. We were registered with the Care Quality Commission in November 2012 and we delivered care to our first customer in December 2012.

Our Ethos

Right from the start we had a very clear ethos. This has never changed; it never will change; it is very simple. We believe that our customers are the most important people for our business; that our care and support workers are the most important people in our business; that a socially responsible business is most important for everyone. We are part of the service sector. We provide an essential service often to some of the most vulnerable people in our society. We will never compromise on the quality of the care that we provide and this is reflected in our values.

Our Values

If you're looking for home care for yourself or for another; you have a choice. We’d like you to choose in our favour. But, why should you? We’d like you to become our customer, remain our customer and recommend us to others. Why should you?  Those people to whom you recommend us; we’d like them, in turn, to become our customers. But, why should they?

If we cannot meet your needs and exceed your expectations; there is very little incentive for you to become one of our customers. We know you have a choice. Therefore, we aim to provide a service of the highest quality. And everything starts with our values.

1.      Our duty is to do all we can to provide an outstanding service to you. Providing a service to you is not an inconvenience. It is the reason that we exist. If people did not want our services, Caremark Thanet would not be needed. You pay to receive a service. Providing that service is not an inconvenience, it is a privilege, it is our duty, it is a privileged duty.

2.      Our duty is to provide a service that meets your needs. If we are unable to do this we should explain this to you. The service we provide to you should respond to your changing needs.

3.     Our duty is to uphold your dignity, support your independence and promote your safety. However, we recognize that it is not for us to attempt to eliminate risk from your life. On the contrary, we recognize that there is dignity in risk. We believe that the independence to determine the course of our lives is something we should cherish for ourselves and promote for others. Maintaining independence may involve taking risks. Taking risks promotes dignity, enriches lives and empowers the risk taker. To deny this opportunity to our customers would be to disregard our duty.

4.      Our duty is to provide help not to take over. Where possible, we should do all we can to ensure that you are an active participant in your care not a passive recipient. 

5.      Our duty is to do all we can to help you to remain as independent as possible and to remain living in your home for as long as possible. For many of us, the thought of having to leave our homes is unbearable. Our homes are part of us; and we are part of our homes. They often reflect our identities and the identities of other significant people in our lives. They are our tranquil sanctuaries from the disorder and confusion of a turbulent world. Our homes hold our dearest memories and are where we are most comfortable. Helping you remain in your home is, perhaps, the single most important thing we do.

6.      Caremark Thanet is a socially responsible local business. Where possible we buy our supplies from other local businesses. Local businesses supporting local businesses is good for the local economy and local people.

Our Vision

Our vision is ambitious: To be Thanet’s first choice private domiciliary care provider for customers and carers.

Your Care, Your Choice

Few of us even want to think about having domiciliary care; for many of us, however, it is something we must do. When we provide your care, our relationship is one based on more than a mere exchange. It is one based on trust. Your trust is one of the most precious things you can grant. Your grant is contingent; not constant. We hold it with confidence never conceit. We know you have a choice.

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or email garry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website at www.caremark.co.uk/thanet.

Caremark Thanet Will Be at The Ageless Thanet 50+ Festival

Caremark Thanet will be at the Ageless Thanet 50+ Festival on Sunday 3 September 2017. The event is being held at St George’s School in Broadstairs – CT10 2LH for those using a satnav. Admission is free and the event is open from 10.00-16.00.

Caremark Thanet is proud to be an age-friendly business and very pleased to be involved with the 50+ festival. We will be there to offer advice about our care services and advice about domiciliary care in general. However, there will be quite a bit more at the festival for you to see and do.

There will be the chance to take part in various taster sessions during the day. For example, how about giving Tai Chi a go. Believe it or not, Tai Chi developed as a martial art in China. Today, however, it is practised more for its health promoting posibilities. You’ve probably seen people practising Tai Chi and noticed their elegantly smooth movements. Tai Chi also helps develop deep breathing and relaxation. There is evidence to suggest that practitioners lower their stress levels, improve mobility, gain muscle strength and improve their posture.

If not Tai Chi, why not belly dancing, or woodwork, or pottery or boccia? Boccia…

“… is a game of strategy and accuracy that was originally designed to be played by people with cerebral palsy. Now, the sport includes athletes with impairments that affect motor skills.

The sport is played on a flat, smooth surface, where players must throw or roll coloured balls as close as possible to a white target ball, known as the “jack.” The player, pair or team with the most balls near the jack is the winner.”

Of course, no festival worthy of its name would be complete without somewhere to eat and drink. This year there will be a food court where hot and cold refreshments will be avaialable.

There will, of course, be much more than what has been described above. If you come along, drop by our stand and say hello. We’ll be delighted to see you.

Garry Costain is the Managing Director of Caremark Thanet, a domiciliary care provider with offices in Margate, Kent. Caremark Thanet provides home care services throughout the Isle of Thanet. Garry can be contacted on 01843 235910 or email garry.costain@caremark.co.uk. You can also visit Caremark Thanet's website at www.caremark.co.uk/thanet.