The carer has to be someone you’d want looking after your family member with Claire Westlake

Today’s guest is a long standing friend and past colleague, Claire Westlake from Your Care, which she runs along with her mum, Tina. This year they celebrate 11 years in business.

Neither of them started out in care; Tina worked in the beauty industry and Claire was an accountant – both very different professions to Care. Claire explains how they ended up working in care and starting their own business, after being shocked by the uncaring manner people were being treated in by the agency she was working for.

Your Care’s way of working is different to many others – they’re not a typical care agency. Your Care has a register of self-employed carers and they match those carers to their clients; mostly clients with dementia and elderly clients. They consult over the phone with families so that they completely understand the clients needs; and not just medical, but also things about them personally – what they like and dislike so that they can make a perfect match with the carer.

Tina and Claire are also very choosy about the carers who they employ – their ethos being: would they leave one of their own family members with that person?

Over the last couple of months Your Care have had problems with South Glos Council, with whom they’ve been working for almost 11 years. They love the service that Your Care delivers, loving what they do and how they do it, but they don’t love the price.  Like every other business, Your Care have had to increase the budget to be able to cover wages etc, and that would have meant only an increase of £1.50. But the Council thinks that’s too much!

We discuss what this means and how this impacts on clients; how upsetting it is for them and their families and how we are hoping to change this.

Tina and Claire have published a book ‘After the Diagnosis, your Guide to Living with Dementia’, an eBook, which is available on their website and on Amazon.

To contact Claire:
Website: www.your-careuk.co.uk
Email: Claire@your-careuk.co.uk
Phone: 01179 477422