Service User Guide
GovernanceDomiciliary care
A guide for people who use your home care service: what you do, visits, rights, keeping safe, feedback and how to complain.
Pages
Description
What goes in a service user guide?
A service user guide is the booklet you give to the people you support. It tells them who you are, what you can help with, what to expect at each visit and who to call if something goes wrong. This home care service user guide talks straight to the person in short, plain sentences, such as "We ask you before we give care" and "Tell us if your needs change".
What the guide covers
About us: name, address, office hours, out-of-hours number and your Registered Manager
What we do, from washing and dressing to medicines (if agreed), housework and shopping
Planning your care, including the care plan, the care diary kept in the home and when the plan is reviewed
Your visits, late arrivals and what happens if a visit is missed
Your rights, from dignity and privacy to saying yes or no to care
Keeping you safe: what abuse looks like and who to tell
Your information, and the right to see records and ask for mistakes to be corrected
How to complain, then where to go next: the council, the Ombudsman and CQC
Other formats and a page of useful phone numbers
How it helps people speak up
The guide explains abuse in everyday words, such as taking someone's money or not giving them the care they need. It tells the person they can tell you, tell their council, or phone 999 in an emergency, and that you will ask what they want to happen.
The complaints page works the same way. It says someone else can complain for them and gives your reply time. If they are still unhappy, it explains that the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman is free, does not take sides and looks at complaints about all home care, whoever pays. CQC cannot take on a person's own complaint, but what they tell CQC helps protect others.
Before you hand it out
Fill in each grey box with your own details.
Change the task list to match what you provide.
Add complaint reply times from your complaints policy.
Check each phone number on that organisation's website.
The guide offers large print, easy read, braille, audio and other languages, so be ready to supply them.
Your guide and your Statement of Purpose should describe the same service. The reply times you add come from your Complaints Policy & Procedure, and the abuse section rests on your Safeguarding Policy & Procedure.
