Your first personal care visit

What is going on

It is your first week at Willow. On Monday you are rostered with Lena Petrova, a senior support worker, for Margaret Hoban's morning personal care visit in Noble Park, and on Wednesday you will do the same visit alone. Margaret is 84, lives alone, has a falls risk flag and prefers the heater on before she gets out of bed. Her plan describes a stand by assist for the shower with a transfer belt available. Lena has asked you to prepare before Monday, and after the visit you will need to write your progress note, check out through the roster app and report anything you noticed.

Your brief

Prepare for and complete a supervised personal care visit, then show that you can work safely, respectfully and within Willow's procedures when you visit alone: read the plan and risk assessment, follow the lone worker controls, deliver the support the way Margaret wants it, and record what happened accurately.

Work through it

You do not need to do it all. Doing a few of these will show you what the work is like. Your ticks and notes stay on this device.

• Open Margaret Hoban's record in the Client Register and read her risk flags, plan review date and notes, then read the Individual Support Plan Template guidance so you know what the plan tells you.
• Read the Home Visit Safety and Lone Worker Procedure and list the three checks you must complete before, during and after the visit, including check-in through the Roster and Shift Log.
• Read the Manual Handling and Assisted Transfers Procedure and describe the transfer method and equipment Margaret's plan specifies and what you must do if she cannot stand as expected.
• Read the Person-Centred Practice and Rights Policy and write three things you will do during the visit to respect Margaret's choices, privacy and dignity.
• Complete the Monday shift with Lena, updating the shift record in the Roster and Shift Log to Checked in and then Completed, and ask Lena two questions about Margaret's routine the plan does not answer.
• Write a progress note in the Progress Notes and Case Log describing what you did, what Margaret said about how she felt, and any change you observed, using objective language.
• Margaret tells you she skipped breakfast because she felt unsteady on Tuesday. Decide what you must report, to whom and by when, and draft the entry for the Incident and Hazard Register.
• Prepare a short handover note for the Wednesday worker covering Margaret's preferences and anything that changed.

What someone in this role would produce

• Pre-visit checklist showing the plan, risk assessment and lone worker controls you reviewed
• Completed shift records in the Roster and Shift Log
• Progress note for the Monday visit
• Incident and Hazard Register entry for the near miss
• Handover note for the Wednesday worker