One-to-one time for someone already in a care home.
A good care home keeps people safe, fed and looked after. What no home can give every resident is an unhurried afternoon with one person whose only job that day is them.
One to two hoursArranged with the home's agreementFor families, and for homes
The visit you cannot always make
Families who have moved a parent into a care home often describe the same guilt: the home is good, the staff are kind, and their mother still spends most of the week without a proper conversation. Visiting from Leeds or London every week is not realistic, and the weeks stack up.
A Care Home Companion visits on a fixed day, sits with your relative one to one, and sends you the same written update afterwards that every other Whitegreen client's family receives.
- Conversation, reminiscence and looking through photographs
- Reading — books, letters, the local paper
- Cards, games and hobbies
- A walk in the grounds, or out to a café where the home agrees
- Being there on a birthday or an anniversary when you cannot be
A one-to-one offer for your residents
We are not a staffing agency and we do not take on any regulated activity inside your home. Our companions come in as arranged visitors for a named resident, funded privately by that resident's family.
For a home, it means residents whose families are far away get regular one-to-one time without any call on your staffing, and you have a named, DBS-checked, insured, employed person coming in rather than a rotating cast.
We are happy to work to your visiting policy, provide our insurance and DBS evidence in advance, sign in and out like any visitor, and give you a single named contact.
Employed, not introduced
Every companion is on our payroll, enhanced-DBS checked with the adults' barred list, referenced and trained before a first visit.
Insured
Employers' liability, public liability and professional indemnity cover, evidenced to you before we set foot in the building.
Within your rules
Your visiting policy, your sign-in, your safeguarding route. We report anything of concern to you the same day.
The same published prices as every other visit
A care home visit is charged exactly as a home visit is: £54 for two hours on a weekday, £30 for one hour, evenings and weekends at plus 25%. There is no fee to the care home and no commission paid either way.
Where several families in one home want visits, we can often arrange them on the same day, which makes it easier for the home and easier for us to keep the same companion coming.
Companionship is the whole job, not a line on a rota
Most home care agencies offer companionship as one item inside a care package. It is the first thing squeezed when the round runs late. We do not run a care round, so there is nothing for your visit to be squeezed by.
Doing one thing means we can say exactly what it is, in writing, before you book.
Whitegreen Companions provides non-regulated independent living support. We do not provide personal care, nursing care, clinical care or any other activity regulated by the Care Quality Commission. Our companions can remind you to take medication but never administer it. If your needs change, we will help you find a registered care provider.
Personal care is defined in regulation 2 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. If it is what your family needs, tell us and we will help you find a provider registered to give it — at no charge and with no commission to us.
Talk to us about a care home visit
Tell us which home, and what your relative used to enjoy. We will speak to the home with you, and arrange a free meet-and-greet before anything is charged.