COVID-19: Latest Updates
Strong PPE supply at The Great Care Company
Update 17:35 pm - 11th May 2020
We have seen the media reports over the weekend that report that social care providers are 24 hours away from running out of PPE (Personal Protective Equipment).
We wanted to take this opportunity to let you know that this does not apply to us. We are very fortunate to have excellent suppliers of PPE who have been able to continually supply use with PPE for our current everyday use. While our everyday use has risen (as you would expect), we are able to access all the PPE we require, and we have emergency backup stock should we ever need it.
General update on progress with COVID-19 - 002
Update 12:10 pm - 5th May 2020
We are pleased to report that our progress with the COVID-19 fight has progressed positively beyond our expectations. By already having a Business Continuity Plan that included “what we would do in the case of a pandemic or epidemic”, we were able to make some very early decisions, which paid off.
As you will see from review sites such as Homecare.co.uk, Yell.com, Google and Indeed, the satisfaction of our clients and our staff remains high and has actually increased during the pandemic.
All of our clients and our staff are currently in good health and we have no COVID-19 cases within our company. We have all the necessary measures to be able to monitor this, we carry out regular welfare checks on everyone and we have issued our staff and clients with everything they need to monitor their situation too.
We are aware of the psychological toll that self-isolating is taking on some of our clients, so we are currently developing a range of new schemes to support them and fight this. Such schemes include a new video-calling scheme whereby all our clients can see their families (and vice-versa) whenever they want. Other schemes include cooking and pampering schemes, whereby clients receive 5-star treatment without even leaving the house. We figured we cannot take our clients out to such activities, so we have decided to take the activities to them.
We will continue to post further updates on here about our progress with COVID-19. We wish everyone all the best, stay safe and take care of your loved ones.
More feedback from clients
Update 7:26 am - 29th April 2020
We really want to recognise our team for their hard work. This is why we have adapted our client welfare checks to also include asking our clients for any messages and recognition they want to pass onto to our team.
We are seeing a flurry of activity on review sites such as Homecare.co.uk, Yell.com and Google, whereby our clients and their family and friends are posting a range of lovely, kind reviews about our team.
We are receiving a lot of positive feedback, too much to share in this one update. However, we wanted to share this one, which we thought we especially kind:
“I would highly recommend The Great Care Company to anybody who is looking for care for an elderly relative. They have been going to my mum for several months and the difference in mum is unbelievable. The girls that look after mum always go above and beyond to make sure mum is cared for. They will do anything mum asks of them. They treat her like family and she absolutely loves the company and somebody to talk to. These girls deserve a medal and are doing a fantastic job and we want to thank them all from the bottom of our hearts you make our lives so much easier”.
Penny H, Daughter of Client
Source: https://www.homecare.co.uk/homecare/agency.cfm/id/65432229676#reviews-top
Thank you to everyone who is leaving us reviews. We are sharing these with our teams and they are very grateful for the recognition.
New scheme being developed to support clients to remain in contact with family
Update 11:44 am - 28th April 2020
Social isolation has always been a risk to the vulnerable, whether they are of older age or have a disability. We had plans to introduce a range of new schemes to help fight social isolation, which we were planning to roll out later this year. We have decided to bring these forward and we are investing heavily into this as a team right now.
We have members of our team working tirelessly to produce new ways that our clients can avoid feeling socially isolated as a result of the coronavirus. Today, our team are starting to work on a new video-calling scheme whereby all our clients can see their families (and vice-versa) whenever they want.
New scheme launched to support staff to maintain their hours and retain them
Update 9:12 am - 22nd April 2020
You may be surprised to learn that, as a care provider, we actually have a lot of available hours for our team to use to support new clients. This is because we are fully staffed and we have excellent staff retention. Additionally, our team are all healthy and well, so we have no-one off sick. So, what are we to do with our all this extra time our team have?
We have come up with a range of ways to make best use of this time. We are raising money for charity, we are writing about our experiences with the epidemic, we are giving free services to our clients (e.g. shopping, social care and cleaning), we are carrying extra training and we are coming up with clever ways to keep our clients healthy.
We have created a new system called ‘Employee Hours Allocation’, which is designed to give our team their contracted hours (yes… we don’t use zero-hour contracts, our team are on fixed contracts). Our team are reporting back that they are really happy with this new system. They are able to pick up extra work without needing to leave their house, they are doing things that are really rewarding and they feel that they are going to “extra-mile”, more so than usual.
Feedback on the free shopping and medication collection
Update 10:22 am -21st April 2020
A few weeks in now and our clients are reporting that they are loving the new free shopping and medication collection service that we are offering to them. One client’s daughter has said “I was already really impressed with The Great Care Company before, but then they go ahead and start giving away free support with shopping and medication… I am so grateful to them!”
If you are a client of The Great Care Company and you need some free support with shopping, then please speak with your Local Branch or email extra-mile@greatcareco.com.
PPE Emergency Stock still unused
Update 12:01 pm -12th April 2020
Further to our update from yesterday, we are pleased to advise that we have always held a backup stock of PPE, as part of our preparations for an epidemic or a national/international shortage.
We are pleased to advise that we have not even touched this backup stock yet and we are still able to continually order supplies, for current use, from our dedicated and professional PPE supplies. We have absolutely no issues with our PPE supply.
Business Continuity Plan is working to protect our healthy clients and team
Update 19:42 pm -11th April 2020
We are quite fortunate because we have always taken our Business Continuity Planning very seriously and we have always planned for an epidemic. Whilst what we have all seen has been highly unprecedented, we were fortunate that we have been highly prepared for everything that has happened so far. And, through the continual development of our Business Continuity Plans, we have been able to stay ahead of everything.
We have a healthy team, who are all taking this matter extremely seriously, and we have a healthy group of clients, who, again, are taking everything seriously.
Feedback on the “free social care”
Update 14:20 pm - 8th April 2020
Many of our clients have contacted us out of the blue to share really positive feedback and their gratitude for the free support we are providing to them.
As part of our COVID-19 Business Continuity Plan, we recognised that our clients are at even more risk of the negative impacts of social isolation, so we launched "free social care" to all of our clients.
With feedback such as “we are truly, so, so grateful to you all” and “my mum has perked up so much since the free care”, we are very humbled and pleased to took this step.
Improvements to our Payroll for our amazing team
Update 12:07 pm - 7th April 2020
We know that this is a worrying time for everyone and we are keen to alleviate people's worries. This is why we have been working hard behind the scenes to make a range of improvements to how we work. Today, we are pleased to announce that we have fast-tracked a new Payroll Portal for our staff so that they can monitor and manage their income in a more efficient manner.
We know that, during the COVID-19 epidemic, times have become more worrying than usual, so we wanted to make some improvements to payroll to make life a little easier for everyone.
We have made the following changes:
- Payroll Portal - We have created an individual staff Payroll Portal so our team can access all their payslips in one place and keep a closer eye on their finances. We don't want our team to be worrying about money and we are coming up with ways to help them.
- Payroll Calendar - We have added a calender to the Payroll Staff Portal so that our team, specifically newer members to the team, know when our pay dates are.
- Notifications System - We have now set up the payroll system to notify our of any key changes we make and we are increasing the level of guidance that we have for our team around payroll.
- Clear Pay Categories - We have created a range of new pay categories to make it easier for our team to track their pay. Our team are also being assigned work that they can carry out at home, such as carrying out additional/refresher training, and these pay categories makes it easier for them to track their work.
We are continuing to work around the clock to make further improvements and continuing to pull together during the epidemic. There are further improvements that we are working on, in the background, and we will be soon announcing these.
First employees trained through e-learning
Update 9:19 am - 7th April 2020
Whilst our staff retention is incredibly high (consistently over 95%), we want to make sure that any new employees brought onboard were still trained to our usual high standard. Furthermore, we want to be able to continually train our team and maintain our focus upon professional development, even more so during this time.
Our newest team members have completed the first e-learning modules and, except for a couple of minor technical issues (which are to be expected with anything new), they have been a success. We have decided that we are going to take this as an opportunity to review and improve the entire team onboarding process. We receive excellent feedback already on our onboarding process, but our team have lots of ideas on how to improve it further. We will share more updates on this very soon.
General update on progress with COVID-19 - April 2020
Update 8:02am - 2nd April 2020
Who would have ever thought March 2020 would be the month that it was! We are truly saddened by the events around the World and throughout the UK.
We recognise that this is a worrying time for everyone. We want to take this moment to reassure all our clients, their families and our wonderful team that we have very clear plans for this situation. We are a very experienced team and whilst no-one has experienced a situation as unprecedented as this one, our combined experience of over 100 years in the care sector and our dedication to Business Continuity Planning and Risk Assessing is something we are finding especially useful right now.
As you will be able to tell from our previous posts, we are in a very good position and we expect this to continue. We have all the resources we need and we can even spare some support to others (obviously whilst maintaining social distancing).
We are tracking Government guidance every day. We are in communication with the Care Quality Commission, the Department for Health and Social Care, and with our local authorities and NHS. There is a huge collaborative effort across the UK right now and there is so much going on behind the scenes that will make anyone proud. We recognise that people are losing their lives and we recognise that this is a difficult time for everyone. All we can do is continue to work in the way we have been trained, to follow the guidance and to protect our staff and our clients.
At the moment, we have a very healthy team and a very healthy group of clients. We expect this to be the case going forward too, as we are being very cautious and we have a lot of experience in infection control.
We will continue to post updates on here every week. If you have any concerns, then please contact us.
E-learning project complete and ready to use
Update 6:32am - 2nd April 2020
Following some long days, long nights and plenty of working over weekends, we are pleased to share that the first phase of our new e-learning project is complete. We have new employees due to start their e-learning later this week and we are excited to see the new e-learning in use.
Early into the epidemic, we made a series of decisions which have proven to be very successful. One of these was to move from classroom-based training to e-learning, with a view of reducing unnecessary social contact. Our team and our clients are in full support of this, so we went ahead and developed the new training platform.
Improvements to employment package
Update 19:28 pm - 31st March 2020
As a gesture towards our team for their fantastic work, we have made some small increases to their employment package, including increasing their rate of pay for travel time and their rate of pay for training. We want to make even more improvements to our employment package, so we are working on plans for this now.
Social Isolation - additional support
Update 16:07 pm - 31st March 2020
We know the isolating yourself at home can be very lonely and very challenging. We would like to advise you that our team have full PPE supplies, are highly trained and have even completed new COVID-19 specific training, so we can continue to support our clients.
As previously announced, we have even started to offer free social and domestic care to our clients, on a case-by-case basis, to support them more during this time. We know that other providers, mainly of Domestic Care, have pulled their services, so we are happy to step up and help more, especially as we already visit our clients for personal care and other services.
If you are a client of The Great Care Company and you require any additional support, then please contact us on 0333 200 7199 or email enquiries@greatcareco.com to request this support.
Annual leave rules further extended, in line with Government guidance
Update 7:28 am - 28th March 2020
Looks like we inspired the Government!
On 19th March 2020, we announced that all our team would receive an extra 2-weeks of annual leave as a bonus and we would abolish the usual annual leave deadline for the year.
About 10 days later, the Government announced that all companies should abolish their annual leave deadlines, which we feel is fantastic news. So, we have extended our deadline to be abolished for 2 years, in line with Government guidance.
Fantastic feedback from clients
Update 17:26 pm - 25th March 2020
During our client welfare checks, we have been receiving some amazing feedback. Thank you to our team, to all our clients and to our clients supportive families. We are proud to be serving you.
“I am really appreciative of the information that has been sent out and I have full faith you will be doing everything you can. I have full trust in everyone at The Great Care Company that you will be supporting us all in the best way possible”. Client Representative/Friend of GW
“I want to thank for all the help I have been given and continue to receive”. Client ES
“Thank you to everyone for making sure I am OK and thank you for caring”. Client RS
“What a fantastic job you are doing, with communication and clarity around COVID-19. Thanks for all your help and thanks to the team”. Client Son of DR
“Really thankful for everything”. Daughter of MJ
“I don’t know how we would cope at the moment supporting Mum and Dad if we didn’t have The Great Care Company in place – Mum and Dad would be left so vulnerable”. Son of F&R P
“Carers all do a marvellous job and never leave me without anything - I am so grateful”. Client RC
Focused Upon Keeping Everyone Safe
Update 12:20 pm - 23rd March 2020
Following the Government’s announcement yesterday evening to remain at home unless essential, we are implementing some additional aspects of our Business Continuity Plan. This announcement from the Government was widely expected so we have already prepared for this so it does not cause any disruption to the services that we deliver.
However, we have decided to use this as an opportunity to implement some additional measures that we have been preparing. These are the additional measures we are now taking:
- All training sessions (except our Moving and Handling Practical) will be conducted over the Internet. We have already been adopting high levels of personal hygiene and social distancing during training; however, we have developed a method of delivery for our training over the Internet.
- Our Moving and Handling Practical training will continue to be delivered whilst maintaining our usual high levels of personal hygiene and social distancing. We are carefully recruiting additional team members to support our team during this epidemic, but you can be assured we are taking all the precautions necessary and we are going beyond Government advice to be extra cautious.
- From Thursday 26th March, we are closing our office premises for day-to-day use. We have already implemented restrictions on visitors to our offices, however, we believe it is now prudent for our branch teams to work from home. We have the resources for this, and it will not impact the service delivery to any of our clients.
We would like to assure our clients that our services are continuing as usual and we are fully prepared to support our clients and their wellbeing. If you have any questions or concerns, then please contact us on 0333 200 7199.
COVID-19 specific training now complete
Update 16:38 pm - 21st March 2020
Everyone in our team has now completed the new COVID-19 specific training and we have seen some excellent results. All of our team surpassed expectations in the training and scored highly, which is a testament to the commitment from our team to supporting our clients during this epidemic and to continual learning.
Well done all!
Extra support for our team
Update 14:15 pm - 19th March 2020
We understand there may be concern within our teams about COVID-19 and the implications of the virus. We recognise that our team have remained professional throughout and continued with the usual dedication that we expect at The Great Care Company. We are very proud of you all.
For many companies, the virus has caused major implications in their ability to function. Fortunately for us, we have always dedicated a lot of resources to advanced planning and, therefore, we have a very strong Business Continuity Plan supported by a high level of financial planning. We have set aside a healthy budget to support our team during this time and we are triggering some financial support elements of our plan.
We are announcing the following measures from today:
- All staff will receive 2 weeks of additional annual leave this year. This additional annual leave can be taken instead of sick pay, so that if any of our employees need to self-isolate then they do not have the extra worry of financial pressure. By providing this additional annual leave to all our staff, this means that anyone who doesn’t get any symptoms doesn’t lose out and they get an extra 2 weeks annual leave too.
- Any unused annual leave from this annual leave year (2019/20) will be carried through into next year. This means there is no pressure to use up your leave before our usual annual leave deadline of 30th November. It also means our staff will be able to use their leave when social distancing measures are relaxed, and they can enjoy their leave.
- Anyone who needs to self-isolate will be assigned a ‘buddy’ to help with shopping and other essential errands e.g. medication collection. We want to make sure our team get plenty of rest if they need to self-isolate and that they make a full recovery. This ‘buddy’ would be paid for any support we organise for the employee who is self-isolating.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our team for their continued dedication and for being part of The Great Care Company team.
Thermometers available for clients to check temperatures
Update 10:28 am - 19th March 2020
We are pleased to advise that we have successfully sourced enough thermometers for our clients, so that if they are wishing to monitor their own temperature during the epidemic then they are able to do so. We understand some of our clients already have thermometers, but we wanted to make sure that everyone was cared for.
We are also aware that there may be childcare support from the Government, which we are not expecting to need. However, if our position changes then we are aware that we can potentially access further childcare support from the Government as a form of contingency.
Please be assured, we are working very hard behind the scenes to avoid any disruption to our clients.
Will school closures impact care services delivered by The Great Care Company?
Update 17:39 pm - 18th March 2020
We are aware of the latest update regarding school closures and we are pleased to advise that we have prepared for this scenario.
We will now be implementing the "School Closure" aspect of our Business Continuity Plan. There will be minimal disruption, as our team are prepared for shifts swaps, so that those who have children are moved to working evenings and weekends. Our employees with children have our full support, as always, and we are working closely with our teams.
We are also aware that there may be childcare support from the Government, which we are not expecting to need. However, if our position changes then we are aware that we can potentially access further childcare support from the Government as a form of contingency.
Please be assured, we are working very hard behind the scenes to avoid any disruption to our clients.
Offices are now operating 7-days per week
Update 13:28 pm - 18th March 2020
Whilst we have always operated an "out of hours - on-call" service for our clients and their families, we have decided that during the epidemic our clients and our team will feel better supported with a Senior Manager available every day of the week.
So, whilst our office buildings are now closed, our office teams are working 7-days a week from home. Our Registered Manager and our Assistant Manager (for each of our branches) will alternate their working weeks so that an experienced Senior Manager is available.
Additionally, our support desks for accounts, payroll and IT will now be open 7 days a week, during the pandemic, to deal with any emergency issues and to provide an increased level of support to everyone during this difficult time.
Free support for shopping and medications for our existing clients
Update 9:07 am - 18th March 2020
We have announced that we will be offering free collection of food and medication to all our existing clients and any clients who join us during this epidemic.
We are aware that there are several stories circulating in the media about "scammers" who are offering to carry out grocery shopping for self-isolating older people and then keeping the cash for themselves (source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8121213/Scammers-stealing-money-elderly-coronavirus-outbreak-offering-shopping.html). We are both shocked and saddened by this, and this has prompted us to offer this service for free to our clients.
Working Together To Keep Everyone Safe
Update 19:27 pm - 17th March 2020
Since the outbreak of the virus we have taken certain precautions, shared guidance with our staff and updated documentation. To be transparent about the steps we have already taken please see below:
- We have issued specific COVID-19 guidance (including a COVID-19 factsheet) to all staff, which they’re are required to read and sign.
- We have added a COVID-19 factsheet to all care plans.
- We are issuing regular updates to our staff with further guidance on the latest with COVID-19.
- We have launched a dedicated web page on our website for the latest updates and changes relating to our company, regarding COVID-19.
- We have over stocked on PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) to ensure we can continue to provide service if there were to be equipment shortages.
- Our Local Offices are now in operation 7 days a week, however any visitors (that are not essential) to the office has been prohibited.
- We have created specific communication logs for anything related to COVID-19 for easy access and recording of information.
- We have recruited additional staff, in line with our contingency plans.
- We have cancelled Team Meetings for branches and their field-based staff until further notice to stop any infection (not just COVID-19) being passed on from other staff members.
- We have ceased all other forms of non-essential contact (e.g. staff supervisions, appraisals, etc) within our company and moved towards “telephone meetings only”, so that the level of contact between our team is reduced whilst maintaining strong communication.
- We are now regularly communicating with our clients to track any symptoms they may have and to conduct “telephone welfare checks”.
- Our teams have also been instructed to strictly follow this handwashing protocol. We also advise you and loved ones to do the same where possible.
All staff should wash their hands:
- Before leaving home
- On arrival to place of work
- After using the toilet
- After breaks and sporting activities
- Before food preparation
- Before eating any food, including snacks
- Before leaving work
- On arrival at home
- We have issued staff with their own kitchen roll (to dry hands after washing upon entering the property, so they do not use client towels or kitchen roll), hand sanitiser, gloves and aprons. We have a supply of masks, which are to be used only if medical guidance advises of their use.
- We have implemented refresher training with all staff on Infection Control including additional training on COVID-19 specifically.
What is COVID-19 (commonly known as the coronavirus) and its symptoms?
Update 17:14 pm - 17th March 2020
COVID-19 is a new respiratory illness more commonly known in the media as coronavirus.
Initial symptoms are generally a fever or cough but it is difficult to assess so we find the following table useful to show how the symptoms compare to other common conditions:
*Sources: WHO, CDC, American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
What Can We Do to Keep Safe?
Update 17:00pm - 17th March 2020
We must follow the WHO (World Health Organisation) advice and the advice provided by Public Health England to reduce the risk of spreading or contracting the virus.
Wash Your Hands
Wash your hands regularly and properly with soap and water for around 20 seconds. If you cannot access running water and soap then Alcohol-based gel is recommended until you can wash your hand properly again.
Social Distancing
Maintain at least 1 metre (3 feet) distance between yourself and anyone who is coughing or sneezing (social distancing).
Avoid Touching Your Face
Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth. Hands touch many surfaces and can pick up viruses.
Practice Respiratory Hygiene
Make sure you, and the people around you, follow good respiratory hygiene. This means covering your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze, then dispose of the used tissue immediately. If you do not have access to a tissue, then use your bent elbow to cough or sneeze into your sleeve.
Clean Area’s Regularly
Clean and disinfect regularly touched objects and surfaces using your regular cleaning products to reduce the risk of passing the infection on to other people. We are advising our team to do this whenever possible in their place of work.
Stay Informed
Follow the advice given by 111, your GP or Public Health England. National and local authorities will have the most up-to-date information on where COVID-19 is spreading and if it is in our area. They are best placed to advise on what you should be doing to protect yourselves and others.
To find out more about COVID-19 and advice for situations of self-isolating by visiting the Public Health England website at www.gov.uk/government/organisations/public-health-england
What Should I Do If I Think I’m Displaying Symptoms of COVID-19?
Update 16:30pm - 17th March 2020
If there's a chance you could have coronavirus, you are advised not to go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital. Please do not panic, contact us and we will help you with the next steps. We have implemented effective ways to minimise the risk of transmission through safe working procedures, but we do need you to contact us before your next scheduled visit so that we can support you accordingly.
If your symptoms are mild (and you live alone):
Stay at home for 7 days if you have either:
- A high temperature – you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
- A new, continuous cough – this means you've started coughing repeatedly
- Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
*You do not need to contact 111 to tell them you're staying at home. Testing for coronavirus is not needed if you're staying at home.
If your symptoms are mild and you live with others (i.e. a household):
Everyone in your household needs to stay at home for 14 days if you have either:
- A high temperature – you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
- A new, continuous cough – this means you've started coughing repeatedly
- Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
*You do not need to contact 111 to tell them you're staying at home. Testing for coronavirus is not needed if you're staying at home.
If someone in your household has symptoms and even if you are not showing symptoms:
Everyone in your household needs to stay at home for 14 days if someone in your household has either:
- A high temperature – you feel hot to touch on your chest or back
- A new, continuous cough – this means you've started coughing repeatedly
- Do not go to a GP surgery, pharmacy or hospital.
*You do not need to contact 111 to tell them you're staying at home. Testing for coronavirus is not needed if you're staying at home.
If your symptoms are serious:
If you do have any concern or any underlying health conditions, it is advised to speak to 111 for further guidance.
If possible, either yourself or a member of your family should advise your local office team that you are concerned about your symptoms as soon as possible so we can continue to support you accordingly.
Further Updates
Update 16:20pm - 17th March 2020
We will be providing further updates on our Website regarding the COVID-19 virus. We will not be issuing further letters, as the guidance from the Government is changing daily and we have taken the decision that maintaining this dedicated page on our website with the latest information is more sustainable. We understand that not all clients have access to the Internet – in these instances, please telephone 0333 200 7199 for an update or to discuss any questions you have.
We will be continuing to dedicate appropriate resources towards COVID-19 and we are committed to managing this situation to the highest level which is why we are implementing our contingency plans. Our aim is to minimise any disruption to your services so you should not notice any changes to the quality of service you are accustomed too.
If you do have any concerns or feel you have to inform us of any changes to your own health, then please do not hesitate to contact your local office branch.