Prior to this, during our many lovely times together, we used to talk casually about ageing and care. Little did we know these conversations were going to have so much impact later on. Significantly, he asked me to promise him that no one in the family would place him into residential care, no matter how much his health deteriorated. At that time, I felt this was more than a reasonable request, little knowing the devastating journey his last few years were going to take us on. As a result of this personal experience, the values and ethos of Carefour are founded.
Continuing with Anpa’s story. Inevitably, his health declined until he could no longer look after himself and we were faced with options and choices. Fortunately, our family were all in agreement that his well-known wishes should be honoured, no care home. Therefore, domiciliary care within our home was the only realistic option. Consequently, Anpa and his devoted wife, Vovo, moved into our hastily rearranged dining room.
I wish now that I had heard of live-in care. Having someone live with us to care for Anpa, so that we could share family time with him, would have been a saving grace. As it was, tiredness took over and we began existing rather than living. At no time did we regret our choice, but it was tough, day in day out.
Leann Sainsbury
Managing Director and Co-Founder
During the following two years of exhausting around the clock care, I began to formulate a picture of what good care looked like. We had three, double carer visits per day, seven days a week for two years. We were blessed with some incredible carers and typically some carers who “required improvement”. Possibly, with the right management guidance and training, I believed that they would have improved. The idea for Carefour was at its embryonic stage.
Sadly, Anpa passed away in 2016, but his legacy is that Carefour was born.
Shortly afterwards and with passion in our hearts I joined up with our business partners, who share the same passion and values, now there were four of us. Carefour was registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) in 2016 and the senior management team was recruited. We were registered with no queries on any of our policies and procedures, allowing us to provide Domiciliary and Live-in Care within the community. It was a proud beginning. Of course, we wanted our company to grow, but it had to grow sensibly and sustainably in order to provide the continuity of high-quality care we pledge to give. To this end, our growing team of Carers have been hand-picked with the express objective of offering outstanding, one to one care. Importantly, our extremely robust recruitment process coupled with our in-depth and ongoing training programmes, ensures our care teams are the best around. Furthermore, constant assessment and regular appraisals by our highly experienced Management Team ensure that each carer is monitored, praised and trained on an on-going basis.
Initially concentrating on domiciliary care, employing carers that truly cared, we were awarded outstanding in Caring by the CQC in our first inspection, and Good overall, something we are immensely proud of.
We now have a thriving live-in care team that is growing day by day, still with the same values and ethos of delivering outstanding care. Working in partnership with you, your carer and the Carefour support team means we have the best understanding of your needs and can work toward the best outcomes for ageing well. Life is precious and loss is devastating, no matter how expected or not. Therefore, if we can make your elderly years better, more secure, less isolated then we would be honoured to do so.
Thank you for taking the time to read our story. Please do get in touch if you feel we can help you or your loved ones. Take care and best wishes.
Reach out to us.
Whatever stage in the decision-making process you and your loved ones have reached regarding your current or future care requirements, please contact us for a no-obligation conversation with one of our Managers, we are here to help. Alternatively, please make contact with us and your enquiry will be given the highest priority.
Our Mission and Values
At Carefour, we believe everyone should have the opportunity to age well, to live a healthy, active and fulfilling life for as long as possible, without fear, or pain or sadness. This ethos is at the heart of everything we do.
Therefore, Carefour’s mission is to provide outstanding care and support to enable individuals to remain as independent as possible in their own homes, whilst being assisted in a way which supports positive outcomes and takes into account your rights to choice, dignity, privacy and confidentiality, in a professional and respectful manner.
Our values are:
- Respect clients’ dignity and privacy and the right to make decisions about their own life
- Respect client’s personal beliefs, cultural, emotional and relationship needs
- Integrity – openness, honesty and transparency
- Empathy – Caring, willing to help, compassion and always kind
- Excellence – encourage a culture of innovation, expertise and continuous improvement
- Teamwork – valuing, assisting, sharing and contributing to the lives of our clients and their families, other team members and professional partners – where every individual makes a difference
Carefour’s carers are recruited and trained to work to and above these values and to put caring at the heart of everything they do.
