This Month, Our Focus Is On Our HOME VISITS PROCEDURE

PURPOSE

Staff are to be mindful of the principles of engaging with consumers when visiting them in their homes.  Recognise that you are a visitor and that you have entered the privacy of their home:  

- Respect that the consumer is the expert about their situation  

- Recognise how your position may be perceived  

- Acknowledge that you hold a certain level of power/authority  

- Clarify your role  

- Importance of confidentiality  

- Importance of establishing rapport and trust before the real work can begin 

- Start where the individual or family are at  

- Develop respectful relationships  Set mutually agreed goals  

- Help in practical ways  

- Recognise that there may be differences in goals and values between the consumer and HomeCare Australia Case Managers

Generally home visits will only be made for the purposes of:

- initial assessment, when it is necessary to the assessment and in the consumer’s interests to be assessed in their home environment; - collecting or dropping off a consumer who is receiving a transport service; and - providing a service that has to be delivered in the consumer’s home. Visits at other times will only be made if there has been a prior appointment time agreed with the consumer (and their carer or family as appropriate), and if the visit is authorised by the Program Manager. The purpose of this Policy is to detail the procedure that HomeCare Australia employees must follow for Home Visits.

POLICY Clients must be made aware that their dogs must be restrained or be outsideClients are not to smoke in the premises whilst our staff are presentStaff are not to visit consumers at their homes out of working hours or for any reasons other than those directly associated with providing a service to them. 

PROCEDURE Where a staff member is providing a service that has to be provided in the consumer’s home, the Initial Assessment will include identification of any issues that could have safety implications for staff and a plan for how the risk has been addressed prior to the commencement of the service. 

Staff who are required to attend a consumer’s home as part of a service arrangement must take a mobile phone. NDIS and Aged Care Coordinators providing COS or Case Management must log the visit on the roster for the day/time

they are attending as a record of where they are. Initial sign up meetings should be logged on their calendar for the day on Datasavvy.

Other home visits should be authorised by the Program Manager, and advice about destination and estimated time of return left at the office before the visit is made.  If the staff member has any doubts regarding their personal safety, they should not make a home visit for any reason, and if concerns arise in the course of a visit, they should leave the consumer’s home immediately and advise their Manager of their concerns.

If staff arrives at client premises and a dog is loose they must NOT enter. Instead the client must be telephoned and asked that they secure the dog before staff can enter. If a client refuses to secure a dog staff are not to enter. Staff should phone head office who will contact the client and request for the dog to be restrained.

If the client refuses a service, care workers should contact the office immediately to advise that the client has refused the service. The care worker should not leave the client’s premises until instructed by the office to do so. ​ All staff engaged in personal care and domestic assistance should follow the standard Precautions procedure and ensure they have the correct PPE with them to complete the service.