As one of the most outstanding and multi-award winning care agencies, Overington Care Ltd. sets a standard in the industry that few could ever hope to match. Supporting individuals to remain independent in their own home, it is no wonder that Overington Care has been named Most Outstanding Home Care Services Provider 2020 – Devon in the latest issue of Acquisition International. We take a closer look at the services that this agency offers, and why it sets such an impeccable standard of care.
Growing old can present a number of challenges for those who find it hard to live independently. Mobility issues can make it difficult to get out of the house and meet people, whilst deteriorating mental states can leave individuals feeling lonely, scared, and lost. It is for these individuals that home care is absolutely vital, though that care must be given in an empathetic and compassionate manner. Enter, Overington Care, spearheaded and lead by registered manager and director of the firm, Nichola Overington. Having become a carer at the age of just nineteen, Nichola has spent her life dedicated to caring for those who sometimes are unable care for themselves, including her own father. Seeing how fantastic the doctors and nurses were when caring for her father, Nichola chose then to commit her life to caring for others.
For all sorts of reasons, a lot of people sometimes need a hand to hold them through the times when they are at their lowest. This was Nichola’s inspiration for getting into the care industry, and then later founding Overington Care. These individuals who need care are potentially someone’s mother, father, daughter, son, brother, or sister, and Nichola understands better than most the desire to get the best care possible for family members. Everyone deserves empathy, compassion, kindness, and respect, traits which Overington Care has in abundance. Since the age of nineteen, Nichola worked as a carer in various care homes which helped to broaden her knowledge and enhance her professional development. After twenty one years, Nichola then decided to found Overington Care in heart of the Seaton, Devon.
Since founding Overington Care, Nichola and her entire team of compassionate and empathetic staff have made it their mission to deliver exceptional care, whilst ensuring a high quality of life for clients. The whole team work tirelessly to make sure that clients are always treated with courtesy, kindness, respect, and honesty. When coupled with a desire to maintain the clients’ dignity, privacy, right of choice, and independence, Overington Care continues to stand out as an industry benchmark for what home care should look like and function as. Whatever the needs of the client, they can rest assured that all the information given to Overington Care is kept safe and not divulged to a third party without signed consent.
Part of what makes the care from Overington Care so unique is that personalisation and individualisation that goes into crafting each plan for each client. Every client is thoroughly assessed using a variety of assessment tools, before a digital care plan is created which details action plans, tasks, reviews, and outcomes in a bid to support those who care for the client. Every decision made about the care plan is made involving either the client themselves, or an appointed advocate or representative, to ensure that all information is communicated in a clear and concise manner, promoting the right of choice that the client has.
That planning phase extends beyond the beginning of the care itself, as Overington Care ensures that all clients, families, staff, and advocates are kept in a loop of written information and offered support from health and social services. Once the care begins, all clients are encouraged to retain their own independence as much as possible, whilst still respecting their right to choose by where this may carry an element of risk. Unless proven otherwise by a trained medical professional, all clients are also treated as mentally capable of making fully informed choices and decisions for themselves. Staff are taught to always assume capacity and where capacity is limited, to apply the principles of the Mental Capacity Act of 2005.
Caring for individuals in their homes can take many forms, and Overington Care is outstanding in its breadth of services for clients of all capabilities. Whether they are seeking companionship at home or for social activities, support when having medical and social appointments, or assisted breaks for friends and family members, the team are on hand to make sure that everything is carried out for the comfort of the client. The team are also available to help take clients to Alzheimer’s and dementia care memory cafés, escort them to religious services, offer out-of-hours emergency care, and care within the home. Clients’ individuality and uniqueness is always recognised, and they are always treated with dignity and respect to ensure equality and diversity is always celebrated.
Helping clients live life the way they want to, Overington Care’s range of standard and extra care services is extensive and covers
almost every facet of home and social life. Ranging from assistance with mobilising in the morning and going to bed, bathing, grooming, dressing assistance, walking, transferring, meal preparation, diet monitoring, feeding, cleaning, and a myriad of others, Overington Care’s team is second to none in terms of devotion. Looking beyond that however, the extra care services enable clients to continue living their lives outside of home with the peace of mind that a trained professional is looking after them. Clients can go on trips to the hairdresser, shopping destinations, afternoon tea across the Jurassic Coast, the theatre, walks along the seafront, and even holidays.
Caring for individuals who struggle to care for themselves is not an easy task, but one that Nichola and the whole team at Overington Care approach every single day with the same undying enthusiasm and energy. As people want to maintain their independence moving into latter stages of life, Overington Care is there to make sure that those individuals can find peace and stability in their lives.
