What we do, and what we do not
Being clear about this matters more than being impressive about it. Below is exactly what a Longetra Companion is there for — and the things they are not able to help with, so nobody finds out at the wrong moment.
What Longetra provides
Longetra provides non-personal-care companionship and practical independent-living support. Our Companions do not provide personal care, nursing or clinical services.
What a Companion does
Company and conversation. Help around the house — light tasks, laundry, meals, shopping and errands. Getting out: appointments, trips and community activities. Checking in and keeping the family reassured. Support settling back home after a hospital stay. Help with paperwork, phones, tablets and the ordinary admin of independent living.
What a Companion does not do
Our Companions do not provide personal care. That means no help with washing, bathing, dressing, using the toilet, continence care, or moving somebody from a bed or a chair. They do not give or prompt medication, dress wounds, or carry out any nursing or clinical task. They do not feed somebody who cannot eat unaided.
Why the line is where it is
Personal care and nursing are regulated activities in England, and providers of them must be registered with the Care Quality Commission. Longetra is not registered with the Care Quality Commission and does not provide regulated care. We would rather say that plainly than blur it: a Companion who agreed to help "just this once" would be doing something neither they nor we are set up to do safely.
If you need more than we can offer
Please tell us. If you ask for something outside our service we will record it, explain why we cannot help with that particular thing, and a member of the Longetra team will get in touch to talk it through. Needing personal care does not mean companionship stops being useful — it usually means both are needed.
Where we operate
Longetra currently operates in England only. Care regulation is devolved across the United Kingdom, and the England position does not carry across, so we do not yet take on people living in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.