How This Directory Works
What this directory is, and what it is not
Our local services directory shares the details of independent businesses that work with older people at home across Hertfordshire. These services are not provided by Starling Homecare, and we are not able to verify anyone’s credentials, registration, insurance or standard of work. A listing is a signpost, not a recommendation.
We publish this because families ask us for it. When something changes at home, knowing where to begin saves time and worry at a difficult moment, and we would rather answer the question properly than leave someone to guess. That is the whole of our interest in it. Nobody pays to be listed, we take no commission, and we accept no referral fee, in either direction.
The Short Version
Five things to know:
- The businesses listed are independent. They are not part of Starling Homecare and we do not employ, manage or supervise them.
- We publish what each business tells us about itself, as they tell it to us.
- We do not check or verify qualifications, registration, insurance or standard of work.
- Please make your own enquiries before engaging anyone, and satisfy yourself that they are right for your situation.
- Nobody pays to be listed, and we take no commission or referral fee.
These services are not provided by Starling Homecare
Every business listed here is an independent local company or practitioner. They are not part of Starling Homecare. We do not employ them, manage them, train them or supervise their work, and we have no involvement in the work they carry out or in any arrangement you make with them.
We are not able to verify these services
We publish what each business has told us about itself. We do not check, audit or verify anyone’s qualifications, registration, insurance, references or standard of work, and we do not hold ourselves out as having done so. A listing is not a recommendation, an endorsement, an approval or a vetting exercise. It is a signpost, and it is offered as nothing more than that.
How a business comes to be listed
A local business asks us, or we come across them through our own work in the area and they confirm they are happy to appear. We then publish the details they have given us, as they have given them to us. Inclusion does not rest on any assessment or approval by Starling Homecare, and no listing is ranked, rated or promoted above another.
Please make your own enquiries
Before engaging anyone from this page, do your own research and satisfy yourself that they are right for your situation. Ask about their qualifications, their registration where the profession is regulated, their insurance and how they charge, and ask for references. Where a profession is regulated, the register is public and free to search.
How to check someone for yourself
Most of these professions have a public register, free to search, and any practitioner worth engaging will be glad you looked.
- Physiotherapists, podiatrists, chiropodists, occupational therapists and dietitians: the Health and Care Professions Council, hcpc-uk.org
- Nurses: the Nursing and Midwifery Council, nmc.org.uk
- Solicitors: the Solicitors Regulation Authority, sra.org.uk
- Financial advisers: the Financial Conduct Authority register, register.fca.org.uk
- Any organisation providing regulated care: the Care Quality Commission, cqc.org.uk
- Trades and other unregulated services: ask to see their public liability insurance, and ask for two recent local references
It is also worth asking whether the person holds an enhanced DBS check, since they may be working alone in someone’s home.
Responsibility for these services
Starling Homecare accepts no responsibility or liability for any service provided by a business listed here, or for any loss, cost, damage or harm arising from it. Any contract, payment or agreement is between you and them. If you have a concern about someone listed, please do tell us. We will look at the listing again, although we are not able to investigate on your behalf.
Details can go out of date
Businesses change their numbers, their hours and the areas they cover, and sometimes they stop trading. We ask everyone listed to tell us when something changes, and we come back to them once a year, but we cannot promise that every detail is current on the day you read it. Please check with the business directly.
Removing a listing
A business can ask us to change or remove its listing at any time, for any reason, with no explanation needed. We aim to make the change within five working days. If you are a member of the public with a concern about a listing, email [email protected] and we will look at it again.
We ask everyone for the same set of details, because a directory only helps a family if every listing answers the same questions. We publish them as your own statement about your business, not as facts we have established.
Needed before we can list you
- Business or practice name, exactly as it appears on your Google Business Profile and your own website
- The name and role of the person we should deal with
- The telephone number you want published, the one your customers already use
- The email address you want published
- Your website address, and your Google Business Profile link if you have one
- Your trading address, or, if you work from home and visit people, the postcode district you work from and a note that there is no public address
- The towns and postcode districts you cover
- Whether you visit people in their own homes, work from premises, or both
- Your profession, and your regulator and registration number where the profession is regulated
- Whether you hold public liability insurance, and professional indemnity insurance where your work involves treatment or advice
- Whether you hold an enhanced DBS check, and the year of the most recent one
- What you do, in your own words, in 60 to 100 words
- Who you typically help, in 40 to 60 words
- The days and hours you work
- How soon you can usually see someone
- Your written confirmation that you are happy to be listed and that the details above are accurate
Worth sending, and it makes your listing work harder
- How you charge, and your typical prices if you are happy for them to be published. This is the first thing every family asks, and a listing that answers it gets far more use than one that does not
- Three questions you think a family should ask before booking anyone in your field. Your own words, and they appear as yours
- Languages spoken, beyond English
- Parking and step-free access, if people come to you
- Professional memberships and accreditations
- Your logo and one photograph, with your permission to use them
- Links to your other profiles and listings
Why we ask for it written exactly as it appears elsewhere
Search engines build a picture of a local business from the details that repeat across the web: the name, the telephone number, the address and the area served. Where those match everywhere, the picture is clear and the business is easier to find. Where they differ, even slightly, the picture blurs. So we publish your details exactly as you use them elsewhere, and we link straight to your own website and your Google Business Profile.
What happens to what you send
We use it to build your listing, we publish only what you have asked us to publish, we do not pass anything to anyone else, and one email changes or removes your listing at any time.
Common Questions About How This Directory Works
Does Starling Homecare check the businesses in this directory?
No. We publish what each business tells us about itself, attributed to them. We do not verify qualifications, registration, insurance or standard of work, and we do not present a listing as a recommendation. Families are asked to make their own enquiries, and this page explains how.
Why publish a directory you cannot verify?
Because families ask us for these names every week, and a considered starting point is more useful than nothing at all, provided we are straight about what it is. Being clear about the limits is what makes it honest.
Does Starling Homecare charge businesses to be listed?
No. There is no charge, no paid placement and no commission on work that comes from a listing. If that ever changed we would say so on this page, clearly, before anything else changed.
Who this directory is for
Older people in Hertfordshire and the families and friends who help them, whether or not they use Starling Homecare. Our own clients ask us these questions constantly, and there was no reason to keep the answers to ourselves.
Why we do not take payment for listings
Because a paid listing tells a family nothing. The moment money changes hands, the list stops being about who might be useful, and we would have to say so on every page. It is simpler, and more honest, to keep it free.
If you already work alongside our carers
Being listed here is separate from anything else. It does not change how our carers work alongside you, and it is not a contract, an introduction fee or an exclusive arrangement.
Ask to Be Listed
- Email [email protected] with the details above.
- We build your page from what you have sent, in your own words.
- We let you know when it is live, so you can see it and share it if you would like to.
- It sits on your town page and in the main directory, with a page of its own.
- We come back to you once a year to check nothing has changed.
If you would rather talk it through first, our St Albans office is on 01727 324 127.