Visiting Care in Guildford

Guildford • Surrey

Flexible visiting care at home in Guildford

Visiting care in Guildford is home care in short, planned calls: a Care Professional comes in at set times to help with washing, dressing, meals and medication prompts. Not everyone needs round-the-clock support. For a great many people in Guildford, the right kind of help is a friendly Care Professional who drops in at the times of day that matter, whether that is a single morning call to get up, wash and take medication, or several visits spread from breakfast to bedtime. Visiting care is designed to slot into your existing routine and do just enough to keep you safe, comfortable and independent in your own home. Protocol Healthcare Services has worked in care and staffing since 2016 and has been CQC-registered for personal care since 2019. We shape every package around the person rather than a fixed timetable. It is also known as domiciliary care.

We arrange visiting care in Guildford from our London office in Edgware, so we do not run a shop on Guildford High Street. What we offer is a service covering London and the Home Counties, coordinating vetted, background-checked Care Professionals wherever they are needed. Everyone we place has completed enhanced DBS and right-to-work checks, references and training before they start. A consultant is available around the clock, so a family in Shalford or Burpham gets the same reliability as one on our doorstep.

What visiting care in Guildford can include

• ✓ Short drop-in calls from 30 minutes upwards
• ✓ Morning and evening routines, getting up and settling down
• ✓ Personal care, washing, dressing and continence support
• ✓ Medication prompts and reminders
• ✓ Meal preparation and help staying hydrated
• ✓ Light housework, laundry and shopping
• ✓ Companionship and regular check-in visits
• ✓ Help getting to appointments and out and about

Care that flexes as life changes

One of the biggest advantages of visiting care is that it grows and shrinks with you. Someone in Onslow Village might begin with a single check-in call a few times a week, then add a lunchtime visit after a fall, and later build up to three or four calls a day. Others use a regular slot purely for companionship, a cup of tea and a chat, or a walk down towards the River Wey and back. Because we plan around your day, you keep control of your own home, your own habits and your own sense of independence, with just enough support to take the pressure off you and your family.

Local knowledge across Guildford

Guildford is a historic county town on the River Wey, and its neighbourhoods each have their own character. We arrange visiting care right across the area, from Merrow and Burpham in the east to Onslow Village and Park Barn in the west, out through Shalford and Boxgrove, and north through Bellfields, Slyfield, Stoughton and Westborough towards Jacobs Well and Worplesdon. Whether home is a flat near the town centre in GU1 or a house out towards the University of Surrey in GU2, we match a Care Professional to the person and keep the same familiar faces visiting wherever we can.

Visiting care is also a practical way to stay steady after a hospital appointment or a short stay. The Royal Surrey County Hospital on Egerton Road, near Onslow Village, is run by Royal Surrey NHS Foundation Trust and provides much of the area's care, with community services also run from Milford and Haslemere hospitals. Well-timed calls in the days after a discharge, to prompt medication, encourage fluids and keep an eye on recovery, can make the difference between coping at home and an avoidable return to hospital.

Funding and the cost of visiting care in Guildford

Visiting care is usually charged by the visit or by the hour, and the cost depends on how many calls you need and how long each one lasts. We give you a clear quote before anything starts. Many Guildford families self-fund, but you may be entitled to help: Surrey County Council can carry out a free care needs assessment followed by a financial assessment. Care at home in England is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We are registered with the CQC for personal care (provider ID 1-6591402702) and have not yet been inspected, so we have no rating. Our team is happy to explain how the funding routes fit together, and you can read more on our paying for care guide. Our guide to arranging home care for a loved one sets out each step, from the needs assessment to the care plan.

If you run a care service in Guildford, our staffing services page explains how we supply nurses and support workers as an REC-affiliated agency.

Short-term help after a stay at the Royal Surrey

Surrey County Council can offer reablement when someone leaves hospital. This is short-term support led by therapists, lasting anything from a few days up to six weeks, and the council states that reablement is free. Some people have their longer-term needs assessed at home after discharge, under a scheme called Discharge to Assess. If support you were promised has not started, the council's advice is to speak to the provider first, then the hospital discharge team or Adult Social Care. Once reablement ends, visiting care can carry on at the times of day that are still hard, such as getting up in Merrow or settling for the night in Stoughton.

Areas of Guildford we cover for visiting care

We arrange visiting care at home across the town and its surrounding communities, including:

• Stoughton
• Onslow Village
• Merrow
• Burpham
• Shalford
• Bellfields
• Park Barn
• Westborough
• Slyfield
• Jacobs Well
• Worplesdon
• Boxgrove