Why Building Trust is so Important – Mr Taylor’s Story

Mr Taylor is 81-year-olds and lives alone in a home he has owned for almost half a century.

His property needs some work, and he has recently attempted to modernise it. However, due to excessive costs, he was unable to complete the work.

With no central heating, he contacted NEST to check his eligibility for a new boiler being fitted. They assessed and advised him to contact Care & Repair Western Bay with a list of works required before they could begin the installation.

Building Trust

A Care & Repair Technical Officer visited, however Mr Taylor insisted that he was a very independent person and could look after himself. The technical officer was able to conclude that there was a problem with the lintel above the front door where a crack had developed causing a leak near the fuse board, which would often trip. Unfortunately, Mr Taylor disagreed with the assessment and insisted there was no problem above the door or the electrics as he had fixed them himself. After some persuasion, he allowed work to be completed on the front elevation.

Mr Taylor then went through a period of refusing our calls. However, after some time, he slowly gained confidence in the people trying to help him, meaning the work could resume. Once the work was complete, Mr Taylor trusted us and was able to contact us about a further issue he was having: a water supply leak had brought the ceiling down. We returned to the property and took care of the issue immediately

Every client is different, but Care & Repair know that building trust is key to being able to support people holistically. A Care & Repair Western Bay Caseworker explains:

“We never know what the full problems of a client are until we visit them in their property. We work with the client to build trust over a period of time; being there to support and advise them. We get a huge amount of job satisfaction when we see the difference that is made with our help.”

Funding the Work

To complete the initial works at the property, we were able to secure ICF funding, Healthy Homes Grant as well as the Primary Care Grant which effectively covered the majority of the costs. The excess was covered with the Swansea Council-Comfort Safety & Security Grant. This meant that Mr Taylor did not have to contribute to any of the work carried out by our contractors. The contractor costs for the water supply leak and ceiling damage were also sourced by applying to the Winter Pressures Grant from Care & Repair Cymru.

Once the work was complete, our Home Energy Officer supported Mr Taylor with the new application to NEST and the boiler was fitted.

Access to funding has had a major positive impact on Mr Taylors wellbeing, quality of living, as well as his mental health.

“All the staff were very good.”

Mr Taylor contacted us on several occasions to apologise for the way he had stalled and declined our help initially due to his anxiety levels. We are all delighted to have gained another client’s trust.

Mr Taylor said: “All the staff were very good. This work is important, without them the elderly could be taken advantage of. This charity deserves all the praise they get. Well done!”

– Radek Maciaszek

Note: names have been changed and photographs edited to protect the identity of our clients.