We appreciate that organising care in your own home can feel daunting – and our job is to ensure you make informed decisions and have the space to ask as many questions as you’d like to feel comfortable and at ease.
To smooth the transition from living 100% independently to receiving professional care at home, we’ve outlined how care arrangements might work. If you have a relative who is reluctant to access domiciliary care, we’d encourage you to share this guide to help them understand what to expect and be actively involved in decision-making.
Why Private Elderly In-Home Care Differs Between Every Care Recipient
It’s important for us to clarify that we very rarely, if ever, refer to any older person as ‘elderly’ – but have chosen to solely because we know this is one of the most common terms families search for when they’re hoping to find private, compassionate home care support!
In reality, every individual we care for, whether a younger adult with a condition that impacts their mobility, a parent in need of respite care, a person requiring gentle, dignified end-of-life care, or an active and healthy person approaching their centenary, receives the same level of dedication and autonomy as any other.
There is also no prescribed pattern or format that care visits need to follow.
We’re an independent, values-based home care provider, which means we don’t allocate carers on a means-tested basis, nor do we conduct intrusive checks beyond those vital to creating a personalised care plan.
For clients looking for support with day-to-day tasks like meal preparation, those in need of companionship between family visits, or care recipients organising their own care to ensure they can maintain independence in the familiar environment of home, the core priority is always to respect their preferences.
This is why it’s difficult to create a comprehensive guide to home care – because every aspect is tailored to what you or your loved one wants, your physical and emotional care needs, and how we can best help you continue living in your home.
Understanding Custom Home-Based Care Assessments and Planning
Many of the families we consult with have found implementing at-home care complicated, which can be due to conflicting advice or input, often owing to:
- The level of care the local council thinks is required
- Misconceptions about access to localised elderly care services
- Worries about eligibility for elderly care support
- Confusion about waiting for home adaptations before home care can begin
Independent care teams can step in at any point, often with the agility to respond to urgent care requirements, regardless of other assessments or evaluations you may be waiting for.
Working separately from but often in liaison with social services agencies, our priority is protecting the well-being of each care recipient, and there is never a need to wait to source the extra support you need.
Instead, we create care plans in close communication with all individuals and family members involved, as well as with any clinical team responsible for administering medication or treatments, ensuring we deliver coordinated care services to the recipient as and when they need them.
Types of Home-Based Care Support Available On Demand
Most families look for elderly home care in favour of residential care facilities, in some cases to ensure a loved one can live independently for as long as possible, and in others to ensure senior citizens receive empathetic care visits from a specialist care professional between family caregiver shifts.
This might look very different between two families and, depending on your requirements, could involve the following home care structures.
Respite Care
Designed to assist with everyday tasks like personal care and cooking meals, relieving family caregivers of their obligations for an agreed period from a day or two to a few weeks, to protect their own health and welfare.
Visiting Care
Regular visits where we’ll match you with your own carer who will attend on a pre-agreed schedule to help make life easier wherever they can, from helping prepare meals and providing support with social visits to checking in on your well-being.
Domiciliary Care
General care on an ongoing basis, where older adults can rely on the same carer to manage laundry, help around the house, ensure they’ve taken their medications, and otherwise have all they need to follow their daily routines.
Nursing Care
More advanced assistance for elder care scenarios where there are more complex care needs, and where it is important that a care team safeguard the well-being of a care recipient, prevent falls, and ensure they have the necessary practical, emotional and nursing support.
Overnight Care
Overnight care may be essential for individuals reliant on a single carer, such as a spouse, who cannot manage 24/7 responsibilities. Carers remain in your home overnight, either to handle all caring tasks or to allow familial carers to take much-needed downtime.
Specialist Care
Care specialisms include dementia care for older adults with cognitive conditions who need dedicated support, or assistance for recipients with specific diagnoses or needs who benefit from paid carers on hand who are experienced in the relevant condition or diagnosis.
Live-in Care
A live-in carer is carefully selected and works to a defined schedule, with agreed breaks, private sleeping accommodation and a structured rota, delivering consistent care that is structured around the care recipients’ needs and preferences.
Professional Support With Making Home Care Arrangements for an Older Loved One
While this list is, of course, a generalised summary of the types of care we offer, we hope it demonstrates how carers make daily living easier to manage and safeguard the right of elderly relatives to maintain the independence they value.
For more information about home care support, creating a bespoke care needs assessment or organising assistance for a loved one with urgent care requirements, you are welcome to get in touch with any of the Guardian Angel Carers teams around the UK.