Company hoping to transform home care in Wigan with new service

Millennium Homecare registered manager Tish McKee and Katie Salisbury

The new service will involve care companions visiting clients for a minimum of an hour at a time to help them pursue old hobbies, pick up new ones, reconnect with their communities or do whatever interests and pastimes they wish.

The firm is also rolling out the new offer at a time when many people are suffering from loneliness due to a year of lockdowns and Covid restrictions, but may also need support to return to going out and socialising.

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Millennium Homecare is launching a service helping older people live fulfilling lives

Tish McKee, Millennium Homecare’s registered manager, said: “We are looking to reinvent care. We’ve had people in our care homes for respite and when they’re ready to go home they get offered a domiciliary care package.

“You get half-hour calls where staff come in, do what they need to do and it’s done and dusted.

“We want them to be able to live as fulfilling lives as possible. Being older doesn’t mean life should stop, it should mean you can start exploring new things as much as you possibly can.

"We understand that task-based home care needs to be done but this is about enhancing lives.”

Millennium Homecare will begin operating across the Wigan area and Tish says the firm would look at ways to support more ambitious aims such as travelling to visit family members or friends as well as pursuing regular interests.

Establishing a care package will begin over a cuppa and a chat with the clients then being encouraged to say what their wishes are and what they want help doing.

Millennium Homecare has also been given further impetus by the company’s experiences of the pandemic of the past 12 months and the challenges faced by older residents who have had to spend a lot of time at home.

Tish said: “There are a lot of people out there who are lonely and isolated. With lockdown they may not have been out for a while and may feel nervous or concerned, so may need some support."

The company is now recruiting as it rolls out Millennium Homecare.

To find out about becoming a potential care companion or care mentor, visit millennium-homecare.co.uk/

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