One family’s experience of using Bryson Care One2One

The service made a big difference to our family. My mother was 82 and at home all day. Her Bryson carer came to her for three hours every Monday and it was a great help.

Ms A Graham, Belfast

How did the Bryson Care One2One service help you and your family?

This service helped us greatly with my mother.  My mother falls outside the benefit system as she had a works pension and statutory pension.   I contacted Bryson for assistance with cleaning and shopping.   The service helped with both of these.  My mother also had some hospital, doctors, podiatry appointments and the Bryson carer took her to these appointments.  My mother had a disability and the carer was able to cope with this.  She walked with a stick and used supermarket trolleys for support.  This was a great help to us not having to take time off work.  The carer kept in touch with me regularly with updates and I could also contact her at any time.

What difference did it make to your situation?

The service made a big difference to us.  My mother was 82 and at home all day.  Her Bryson carer came to her for three hours every Monday.  She took her shopping to Tesco and then done some cleaning, ironing and on some occasions prepared her something for dinner that evening.  This made a big difference to us knowing she had company for three hours per week and that her shopping and cleaning was catered for.  Before this we had to take her shopping on a Saturday which is so much harder than doing shopping through the week.   We were able to spend quality time with my mother at weekends without worrying about shopping and cleaning.

What would you say to others who were considering using the service?

I would recommend anyone to use this service.  It can cater for all needs.  Even if someone just needs a befriending service this would be perfect.  Most elderly people love to have a bit of company at home.  We were lucky to get someone who could cater for what we wanted.  We just had to ask.  We also just had to wait a very short time for the service to start.  Someone was found quickly that fitted the needs.  I was given the contact details of the carer and was able to chat regularly.  Unfortunately my mother fell and broke her hip and went into hospital.  She has since died otherwise the service would have continued.  There is a cost to the service but we found this not to be a problem.  It was well worth it to us.

February 2019 (Ms A Graham)