A national poll commissioned by Bluebird Care has shown that less than one third (26%) of people could confidently describe what ‘Live-in Care’ is.
The poll of 2,281people revealed low levels of understanding of the different options available to people who wish to stay at home as they age.
Bluebird Care is one of the UK’s largest providers of Live-in Care, with around 20% of their 202 UK franchise businesses offering comprehensive Live-in Care programmes. They are now looking to tackle misconceptions and increase take up of Live-in Care across the country as they roll out their Live-in Care offer nationally.
The premium home care provider has appointed their first-ever Head of Live-in Care, Ted Richardson, to lead a new programme of comprehensive support to enable franchise partners to deliver more Live-in Care services and to better educate their local communities on the benefits Live-in Care offers.
This comes as part of the £600,000 investment in a transformation and growth programme announced by Bluebird Care in February this year.
Richardson, who describes live-in support as ‘the best kept secret in care’, has this month announced a new series of workshops and roadshows for Bluebird Care franchise partners to expand their services in this too often overlooked area.
The educational workshops will be supported by a new series of tools and resources on a dedicated online platform, and specific recruitment practices designed to attract the very best live-in care experts to Bluebird Care’s teams. To overcome the low levels of public awareness, franchisee will also be encouraged to host educational events for their local communities about their different care options, including Live-in Care.
Ted Richardson, Head of Live-in Care at Bluebird Care, said:
“The national poll we conducted revealed extremely low levels of understanding of Live-in Care. Without the proper understanding of different care options, people are not being given a full choice of how – and where – they age.
“For too long, people have only been offered Live-in Care as an option at the end of their care journey, or when they have really high levels of dependency. We want to change that by putting the choice in people’s hands about when they access Live-in Care from an earlier stage. Alongside transforming the lifestyle options available to them, earlier access to Live-in Care can also help keep people well for longer, preventing or limiting a potentially more expensive care home placement, while enabling older people to live and age in a way that best works for them.
“To do this we’ll be equipping all our fantastic franchise partners with all the tools they need to open up understanding of and access to Live-in Care for the communities we serve across the UK and Ireland. I am delighted and honoured to be leading this programme, and grateful for the support from Bluebird Care to grow this important care service for people needing support in the comfort of their own home.”