Care at Home - a shift with Crescent Homecare in Langley Park and Esh.
"For the best part of a decade my dad cared for my grandma at her home and later at our family home, an ex-council semi in East Lancashire where I grew up. Nan had advanced dementia and dad was her carer. After many years suffering with this terrible illness my Grandma May died earlier this year.
"Over the years that he cared for her, dad would call and text with snippets of life. The moments of joy and humour that go alongside the difficulties of caring for someone who you’ve known for decades but no longer knows who you are. The drudgery of nappies and the strength that came from no-where in a 5 foot nothing elderly lady in her late 80s when she decided she didn’t like something without the ability to express that thought.
"While not quite giving me a first-hand experience of what life is like a carer, this personal link and running commentary certainly gave me an insight. This is been added to by my mam who works as a ward clerk in an NHS community hospital - often discharging people into care at home services. And more recently still by taking on the newest addition to my constituency team, Sam, who continues to work part-time in a care home alongside his one or two days a week for me.
"I met Deborah and Geraldine, who run Crescent Homecare, during the pandemic after my team and I got in touch with many local care homes and some domiciliary care agencies. Deborah and Geraldine set up Crescent (one of only 5 per cent of Domiciliary services rated ‘excellent’ by the Care Quality Commission) 25 years ago, based out of Langley Park. At the time I’d asked if at some point it would be possible for me to go on a shift with some of their staff to see what it was really like on the ground and finally I was able to spend a few hours with some of their 80-or so strong team of travelling carers.
"This weekend, was honoured to spent a few hours with Michelle, Tara and Janet from Crescent as they did their rounds - some two person calls, some single carer calls. It’s a physical job, sometimes emotional, sometimes challenging and also clearly a rewarding job too. And from the conversations I had with some of my constituents who they look after along the way, absolutely essential and lifesaving. If I or my family were in need of that support, it’s certainly the team I met who I’d want helping me look after my family.
"I chatted to them about their jobs and challenges and there’s definitely things I’ve picked up from spending time with them that will inform me further about policies in this area. It’s also made me even more convinced about what I said on BBC Question Time a few weeks ago, about the need to have a stable long-term solution to social care which everyone can support."