{"id":7842,"date":"2026-10-05T21:37:36","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T21:37:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visiting-angels.co.uk\/cheshire-east\/?p=7842"},"modified":"2026-10-05T21:38:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T21:38:53","slug":"can-you-choose-your-own-carer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visiting-angels.co.uk\/cheshire-east\/can-you-choose-your-own-carer\/","title":{"rendered":"Can you choose your own carer?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Quick summary<\/b><\/h3>

With us, yes. You meet the caregiver before care starts, and if it is not right you say so and we send someone else. Not every agency works that way, and many cannot, because choice depends on having enough carers who stay. Ask any provider directly, and ask what happens when your regular carer is away.<\/span><\/p>

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The fear underneath the question<\/b><\/h3>

Almost nobody asks this because they want to interview candidates. They ask because they are imagining a rota of strangers letting themselves into their mother’s house, a different face every few days, none of whom knows that she takes her tea without sugar or that her left shoulder does not lift.<\/span><\/p>

That fear is reasonable. It is also the thing most likely to make someone refuse care altogether, which our guide on <\/span>what to do when a parent refuses care<\/span><\/a> goes into.<\/span><\/p>

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What NICE says about it<\/b><\/h3>

This is not simply a preference. National guidance treats continuity as part of quality.<\/span><\/p>

NICE’s home care guideline recommends that providers prioritise continuity of care workers, that a matching process is used so people are supported by care workers they get on with, and that new care workers are introduced to the person before they visit alone (<\/span>NICE NG21<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>

So a provider who cannot introduce a carer before the first visit is not meeting national guidance, whatever its other qualities.<\/span><\/p>

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Why many agencies cannot offer it<\/b><\/h3>

Being fair to them, this is mostly arithmetic rather than attitude.<\/span><\/p>

Choice needs slack in the rota, and slack needs carers who stay. Domiciliary care staff turnover ran at 23.7 per cent in 2025, with a vacancy rate of 9.7 per cent in October 2025 (Skills for Care). An agency replacing a quarter of its workforce every year physically cannot promise you the same face, because it does not know who will still be there in March.<\/span><\/p>

Behind that sits the funding. The Homecare Association puts the minimum sustainable price of an hour of home care in England at \u00a334.42 for 2026\/27, while councils pay an average of \u00a324.39. A provider working at the lower figure is cutting travel time, visit length or pay, and all three drive carers out. Our <\/span>article on 15-minute visits<\/span><\/a> follows that chain through.<\/span><\/p>

Carer choice is therefore a consequence of how a provider treats its staff, not a policy it can simply adopt.<\/b> That is why asking about turnover and travel time tells you more about whether you will get continuity than asking about continuity does.<\/span><\/p>

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How it works here<\/b><\/h3>

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  1. The assessment visit.<\/b> We come out, at a time that suits you, and work out what is needed and when. Free, and no obligation.<\/span><\/li>
  2. The match.<\/b> We look at who is available in your area at those times, and at the person rather than only the schedule. Interests, temperament, whether someone wants a talker or a quiet presence, and any preferences about who comes into the house.<\/span><\/li>
  3. You meet them<\/b> before care starts.<\/span><\/li>
  4. You can say no.<\/b> Without giving a reason, and without it being awkward.<\/span><\/li>
  5. You can change your mind later.<\/b> If it works for a month and then does not, you tell us.<\/span><\/li><\/ol>

    Preferences about the caregiver’s sex are very common, particularly for personal care, and are treated as a normal request rather than a difficult one.<\/span><\/p>

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    The honest limits<\/b><\/h3>

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