Home Instead UK Anmeldelser 176

Just avoid.

The priority was to keep my mum out of hospital and at home ... All they had to do was wash her feet and monitor her feet and administer a few tablets.

but it was chaotic .

Young girls trampling through muddy grass then walking straight into the house ( zero respect ) .. when there was a concrete driveway to walk on ...

Medication not being given .. having to phone them up to see if the meds left on our kitchen table were meant for tomorrow ( they weren't )

And the arrogance of the people they were sending over ... i'd moved in . It was my mum ... It will be MY house and home ... yet I'd open the door to them and they'ed breeze past me like I wasn't there ! Unbelievable ..

They seemed obsessed with washing the pots lol lol ... when I repeatedly told them IT WAS MY MUMS' FEET which were the issue ....

Also things started disappearing from our fridge .... so I had to start hiding away valuable small items whicb was stressful with these guys ..

Ultimately they were a disaster and I so regret engaging them . I wanted to keep my mother out of hospital but this company and these people don't care and actually contributed to my mum going back into hospital.

Cannot believe the new ‘rules’ that are going to be introduced from May 1st…notice of 1 month (instead of 2 weeks) will now be required to cancel a visit. This is profiteering of the highest order…pure greed and no morals. The elderly and vulnerable exploited. It is very difficult for many clients to give as much notice as this as very often circumstances require a shorter notice. Previously it was 2 weeks which was long enough. Very disappointing Home Instead

Home instead came to my home and met my dementia person. After a nice chat they matched him with the perfect person. They stay in touch at all times and I thoroughly recommend them.

I am a wheelchair user and my husband was taken ill, I needed urgent care getting me in and out of bed and general housekeeping.
Jess came out to me from Crewe branch to see what I would need, she was very caring and got care very quickly.
I had and still have excellent carers, especially Colleen and Carmen who are so caring and see things that need doing without me asking. I only stay with the company because I have become close to these wonderful ladies as my husband is much better and can do most things.
Their smiles and friendly attitude go such a long way to make me feel comfortable and happy when they visit.

Home Instead have been delivering 'Singing for the Brain' sessions at one of our Independent Living Schemes for the last six months. The sessions are fun and engaging and always lift the spirits of our residents. This helps reduce feelings of isolation and has become part of their routine. The sessions are also open to members of the public thus encouraging a strong sense of community. Such a good variety of songs across the decades mean that there is something for everybody including special requests :). It is particularly wholesome to see how memory connections brighten their day.
The staff have all been brilliant and are tuned in to the dynamics of independent living. It feels like they are an extension of our team and we appreciate the relationship. I would add that as there is an emphasis on fun and not skill which makes access and participation easy for those who are not as confident.

Adam - Community Wellbeing Coordinator (South East)
Abri

I have worked for Home Instead for just over a year, I am absolutely amazed at the dedication the whole of the Chesterfield team show towards all clients, the care they show, the efficiency they strive to achieve ensuring everything is done to best of their ability ensuring each individual is kept, safe, respected, valued and above all happy and this is followed through to all the Care Team. Chesterfield support towards all of their staff is second to none, the management are kind and attentive, it is clearly very important to them that the Care Teams are seen and heard at all levels, the value shown and the daily conversations of positivity heard are heart warming. I can truly say that I am proud to be part of this unique and uplifting service!

DISCRIMINATION. BLATANT DISCRIMINATION. ABSOLUTELY NO DISABILITY AWARENESS. They consider anyone with a disability as "unusual" and evidently not "normal" absolutely disgusting behaviour and this is by a "senior" employee; Mr Rajive de Chickera a Director, no less employed by Home Instead Crawley & East Grinstead. I wouldn't allow these individuals to take care for my compost bin let alone a precious family member or friend. Absolutely no respect, no disability awareness, empathy, interest or understanding. Absolutely astonishing that these people would be responsible for the care of a human being.

In our experience, Home Instead (Bradford/Leeds) has been the most disappointing care provider we have used. We found communication from management to be poor, with concerns often feeling dismissed rather than addressed. On one occasion, when we raised issues, we felt discouraged from pursuing them further, which left us feeling unheard and unsupported.
Emails were not always acknowledged, and follow-up responses were inconsistent, which made resolving problems difficult.
We also had several worrying experiences regarding staff training and practical care. Some carers appeared unsure about how to carry out safe transfers from a recliner to a wheelchair, which meant family members were sometimes called to assist. One particularly stressful morning visit could not be completed by the carers, this was extremely upsetting for our family.
We were also concerned at times about infection control practices, including occasions where used incontinence pads were left bagged in the bathroom, and once when the front door was left unlocked. These incidents were reported to the office.
There were additional issues with compression stockings not being reapplied and difficulties reported with wound care dressings, which led to confusion between care staff and district nurses.
Medication management was our biggest concern. We repeatedly found discrepancies between what was recorded and what medication remained in the dosset box, and we did not feel confident that changes to prescriptions were always picked up promptly. This caused us significant worry about whether medication was being administered consistently.
Overall, based on our family’s experience, we did not feel confident that the level of training, communication, and medication oversight met the standard we expected. For these reasons, we would not choose to use this provider again.

The experience with Home Instead and the staff and carer was amazing, catering for all our needs in a truly unique way.Highly recommended. Thanks.

I love working for Home Instead because of the genuine passion for delivering high-quality care. The dedication of our care professionals is truly inspiring, and the company consistently supports and values its team. We focus on helping people live independently, with dignity, and for longer in their own homes. Knowing the positive impact we make on clients and their families every day makes this an incredibly rewarding place to work.

Wonderful support from the carers from home instead in esher. Thankyou so much! office team were very kind too

Lovely care from Home Instead in Walton. Looked after my brother really well over many years. He needed a lot of help with washing and dressing etc for the last 12m but most of all he enjoyed chatting with the carers.

HI appears to be a franchise so the level of care received is dependent on how well run the franchise is and who they employ. Overall, the carers were kind to my late dad but the level of competency varied widely - one or two brilliant but many mediocre/box ticking, one or two definitely not suitable to care for vulnerable people without a lot more training. Some couldn't even cook a basic meal.
When you are paying top dollar, plus a monthly admin fee that no other agency seems to have, double rate for holiday periods and a notice period for leaving (even due to death), you would expect to get a consistently high service level.
Using a care agency was supposed to relieve me of some of the duties of caring for my dad but instead I felt I was often having to monitor and manage the agency to ensure dad was well looked after plus do my full time job. That said, there are far worse agencies out there. I consider HI good-average overall but they charge a price that should see them being exceptional.
It was also very disappointing after my dad passed away to have to request they return the (large) deposit they hold and to be responded to very curtly by the owner who thought it acceptable to keep until the next monthly invoicing run. Given that estates go to probate and valuations need to occur there should be a system in place to return the deposit more promptly. The other agency we were using sent it back within days without being chased.
On a side note, it is disappointing that Trustpilot lump customer reviews and staff reviews together - this skews the ratings.

I have been working for home instead east Herts for almost one year now and i love it there
I get to meet very lovely clients who i enjoy caring for and the management team is the best and always on top of things.👏

Home Instead Telford South
As many of the other reviews, I found this company totally unsatisfactory when caring for my elderly parents. I agree with the other reviews that people who are elderly and frail are pressurised into signing agreements, which they don’t fully understand, and which later on are very difficult to get out of without paying hefty cancellation fees. The care provided was also poor. The main reason we required care for my parents was to ensure they took their medication. This didn’t always happen and notably my father missed some doses of antibiotics, which led to a chest infection worsening, hospitalisation and sadly he later died. I reported the failure to give dad his medication to the company but they didn’t seem to take it seriously as it happened more than once. I also had to repeatedly ask for my mum to be bathed, which they said they would ask the carers to do but it still didn’t happen for a long time. There were also some valuables that went missing around the time when carers from this company were visiting my parents. Despite having to pay the cancellation fees, which are exhorbitant, I decided to use another company which has been far more reasonable and compassionate. I would avoid this company at all costs. Like others have said, they pay the carers very little and are only in it to make money for the company.

St.Albans team covered my mothers care. Unfortunately due to our experience I cannot recommend.

After developing complications following surgery, my Mum needed daily care. Lianne, from Home Instead, came out to meet us, and Mum, and twice daily care was started 2 days later.
From the outset, the service provided, on all levels, has been exemplary.
We would wholeheartedly recommend Home Instead.

My message is to be very careful, cross question the manager and get all the small print checked. I guess that each 'Home Instead' will be different depending on the manager and the carers.
My mother had care every morning for an hour initially then care in the evening for an hour. The evening care was charged £1 extra without our knowledge. Ok, only £1 but we should have been advised. Very often the morning carer would be so efficient that she left after around 35 minutes.
We had a schedule or part of a schedule, of carers each week with not nearly enough consistency.
Speaking of consistency, the carers did not keep each other up to date. I was speaking to my mother on the phone one day when the carer asked me if the sheets needed changing. As I live 1.5-2 hours away, I had no idea.
Different carers came and went with my mother having to get used to new ones all the time.
The worst part was that when my mother's medication dosage changed 75 mc one day then 100 mcg the next and for almost 4 weeks, no one kept a log of which level had been given each day meaning that she had the wrong dose on several occasions. My son checked this when he visited and sent me details and I took photographs of meds in their packages.
Despite my request to check, food that had gone off was left in the fridge.
Some carers, two of them particularly, were excellent, spending time talking to my mother, and I have given this feedback to the manager
concerned,
Despite all of this (and more) they are trying to charge my mother over £300 for days of care that she didn't have.
I can see from other reviews that some areas have extremely good care, so please be careful.

Our mum and dad have an hours care two days a week and we have been very impressed with the quality of care provided. The two carers have become like family to our 90+ year-old parents.

We are also very impressed with the way that Home instead keep in constant communication with us by phone letting us know if they feel anything is of concern. If there’s anything that we are unhappy about they immediately take action.

We would not hesitate to recommend them to anybody else. 

If I could rate the carers and the office separately, this would be a five-star review stapled to a one-star bin fire.
Let’s start with the good: the frontline carers were wonderful. Compassionate, skilled, patient - the kind of people who make you believe in humanity again. If I could hire them directly, I would in a heartbeat.
Now for the office. Oh, the office.
Imagine paying £40 an hour for administrative chaos. Of that, the carers (I asked them directly) were earning £12.50. The care manager looked me in the eye and told me they were paid £20 - which was, shall we say, a creative interpretation of the truth. So we were effectively handing over £27.50 per hour to fund spelling mistakes, delays, and a customer service style best described as “Kafka meets Carry On.”
We asked - repeatedly - for carers not to wear PPE while preparing Mum’s food, since it’s both unhygienic (same gloves/aprons used for personal care!) and environmentally wasteful. We sent evidence. We explained that the rustling aprons distressed her and that the blue gloves frightened her.
We were ignored.
We also requested that staff speak to Mum in a normal voice. She’s not deaf, and she’s certainly not five years old. Yet Hannah from the office persisted in addressing her in what I can only describe as a “sing-song nursery voice,” like she was auditioning for CBeebies: The Dementia Edition. It was patronising, demeaning, and infuriating.
Staff turnover? Astronomical. Every week seemed to bring a new face - which is exactly what you don’t want when you’re paying a premium for “continuity of care.”
Communication from the office was appalling: curt, error-riddled emails that read like someone had fed an instruction manual through Google Translate twice. Invoices arrived late. Payments were taken late. When they wanted something, they expected instant compliance. When we needed answers, it was like shouting into a void lined with clipboards.
In short: fantastic carers trapped under an incompetent management structure.
If you want to pay through the nose for stress, misinformation, and amateur-hour admin, this is the company for you. If you want real value, honesty, or even basic respect for your loved one - look elsewhere.