Care Helpline: Brand new resource for care seekers

What is the Care Helpline?

We have recently been trialling a brand new telephone helpline for care seekers as an alternative way to search carehome.co.uk. Those looking for a care home can call a Freephone telephone number and talk to someone personally about their care requirements, then a specialist team member will search carehome.co.uk on their behalf.

How does it work?

Calls are directed through to a team of care specialists. Each team member is experienced in the care home sector and can help the caller quickly identify the type of care home they should be looking for. After an initial consultation the team searches carehome.co.uk on behalf of the care seeker to identify a relevant shortlist of homes. After contacting the care homes directly to check on vacancies and up to date costs, the shortlist is provided to the care seeker.

Who is it for?

It’s aimed at care seekers who prefer to talk to someone in person rather than search online. We understand looking for a care home can be a daunting experience and often combined with high emotion and stress. We therefore wanted to create an additional channel for care seekers to help them through the process.

Is carehome.co.uk changing?

The care helpline is designed to complement our online search. There’ll be no change to carehome.co.uk and care seekers will still be able to access care home listings and reviews in the usual way. In fact, the care team will use carehome.co.uk to search on behalf of the care seeker.

Why start a care helpline?

We know that some care seekers prefer to talk to an expert directly rather than search online. We wanted to make searching for care simple and inclusive for everyone. Importantly it should also increase the number of relevant care enquiries for care homes.

What does it mean for your care home?

With this additional way of searching for care, we are starting to generate higher volumes of quality enquiries for care homes. It’s now more important than ever to ensure your carehome.co.uk profile information is complete and up to date. The number of vacancies and fees are key so we would urge you to regularly update this section of your profile as well as aim for 100% profile completeness. Additionally, response time is vital so please look out for enquiry emails from our Care Help team and respond as quickly as you can to ensure you appear on our short lists.

What next for the care helpline?

We are currently looking to expand our team and increase the number of relevant enquiries provided to care homes and an even better service for the care seeker.

The carehome.co.uk care helpline telephone number is live now. Care seekers can speak to a care specialist by calling 0800 808 5852. Alternatively, they can email carehelp@carehome.co.uk with a brief outline of their care needs and a member of the team will contact them.