Cash plan provider Health Shield is extending its corporate Home Assistance offering to include providing post-hospital care to members’ parents.
Home Assistance, available on Health Shield’s tailored, flex and corporate cash plans, now covers employees’ parents for 14 hours of care in the home following a pre-planned stay in hospital for two or more nights. An employee’s partner’s parents can also be covered under the plan.
The new service is designed to alleviate the pressure on employees needing to provide care for family members after a hospital stay but who are unable to take time off work. One in five workers over the age of 50 is believed to have caring responsibilities for an older relative.
Health Shield chief executive Jonathan Burton says: “We continually assess the relevance of our products, which is why we decided to improve our Home Assistance offering. It is a more common scenario for employees to need support in looking after their parents following a hospital stay as, with age, the complications of returning home increase. Therefore, we have extended our Home Assistance programme to provide benefit of real value to people in a greater number of circumstances, and to help employers manage absence while supporting their employees.
“The addition of new and improved benefits is essential to helping us deliver excellent products and services to our members, and strengthen our relationship with intermediaries.”
Premier Companies senior consultant Simon Curtis says: “Employers generally recognise the demands children place on their employees, but few consider the impact parent illness can have. Health Shield’s move to include post hospital assistance for employee’s parents is therefore a very welcome addition and one that we fully support.”
