Insurance for Having a Live-in Carer
You should contact the provider of your relative’s household insurance and inform them that you plan to hire a live-in carer for your relative. Most large insurance companies such as Aviva, Allianz, FBD and AXA are familiar with the concept of live-in carer and live-in au pairs…..So they should be able to discuss this with you and normally they will add the details about your carer to the existing household insurance policy. Sometimes an add-on is required to the existing policy. If your relative’s insurer says that they can’t quote for a live-in carer then let us know and we will advise you further.
The three key things to bear in mind with insurance and your liability for any accident that may occur to your carer while they are living in your relative’s home:
The most likely accident/injury that will occur is a back injury. This might happen while your carer is helping your relative to move (stand up, sit down etc). ALHomecare strongly recommends to all families to organise a half day face-to-face patient moving and handling course for your carer before she started her job with you. This will cost you approximately 70 to 75 euro and you can google training firms that provide patient handling courses in your area. Once your carer has completed this half day course and got her certificate this will give you great security and peace of mind knowing that your carer knows the correct moving and handling techniques which should mean that she will avoid such injuries. If your carer does have such an injury you are in a secure position because you have provided the training for the carer and therefore you are highly unlikely to be found negligent in such a case.
Make sure your relative’s home is a safe and hazard free environment for both your relative(s) and the carer. This is common sense. So make sure that you examine every room of your relative’s home and the exterior of your relative’s home to make sure there are no hazards anywhere. And if you find such hazards, make sure you remove them or at least make sure you make the carer aware of the hazard and tell the carer to keep clear of that hazard. And trip hazards should be removed, poorly-maintained equipment should be repaired or replaced and smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms should be in good working order.
Send an email once a week to your carer and ask them if everything is ok and ask them if there are any issues to notify you by email and you will solve those issues. Then if your carer does notify you of any issues, you should address those issues and solve them and then email your carer to confirm that the issue has been resolved. Make sure all this correspondence is by email and you keep these emails for future reference.
In the event that your carer has an injury or an accident in your relative’s home, the onus will be on the carer to prove that you or your relatives have been negligent or irresponsible and that your negligence and responsibility is the cause of that injury or accident.
If you organise the patient moving and handling course for your carer before they start their placement, if you do a risk & hazard assessment of your relative’s home before the carer starts (keep a record of this by taking a photo of it and emailing it to yourself) and if you email your carer once a week every week asking them if they have any issues, then you are showing that you are a diligent and responsible employer, and you are therefore highly unlikely to be found to be negligent or irresponsible.
In the near 8 years that ALHomecare has been placing carers and in the 500 placements that we have arranged, a carer has never taken a legal action against any of our families. I hope this gives you reassurance and if you follow the advice above you will be in a very secure position in relation to your carer.
