A home care company in Harrogate battled the treacherous conditions to ensure its vulnerable clients were supported, many of whom have no family or cannot see loved ones because of the pandemic.

Carers from Radfield Home Care, whose head office is based at Jennyfields, braved the arctic conditions during the deluges over the last fortnight to make sure that their clients received the care calls they needed.

Radfield look after some of the most vulnerable clients in the community, so when the snow started to fall at the end of last week and the week before, director Matthew Nutting and his team of more than 30 carers made sure that there was little impact to their service.

Matthew said:

“We didn’t want to leave our clients without any support at all, so we all helped out! We have clients in rural areas which we knew some of our carers wouldn’t be able to reach in their own cars, so I ended up driving carers around to calls.

“The last 10 months have been unprecedented and there has been even more pressure on the home care sector, especially when people live alone and don’t have family nearby. Many of our clients have had to shield since March last year, so it is vitally important that we make sure that they are supported.”

Helen, one of the carers at Radfield home care, was one of many braving the snow to reach those in need.

Matthew added:

Community staff are all too often forgotten about and unseen, as the NHS and care homes receive the main media attention. However, we are out there, all day, every day, caring for some of the most vulnerable people in society and today has been a challenge for more reasons than just COVID.

“Last week we made it to Ripon, Pateley Bridge, Boroughbridge, Harrogate and many villages in between. Many of our days started before 5am and many staff worked past 10pm.

“Carers dug themselves out, dug each other out and even dug other people out! Office staff coordinated over 100 care calls during the day, spoke to families, clients, staff, community services and made hundreds of phone calls making sure people are safe.

“And we do all of this to make sure that some of the most vulnerable in our society are cared for.  We aren’t just a business, we aren’t just a team, we are a family and it has been a family effort.”

For more information about Radfield find them online here.

Read more local stories from Your Harrogate here.