Private home care services: who can benefit?
Age, illness and injuries can make it difficult to get out and about, manage the house and cope with daily routines like washing, dressing and preparing food. For people who don’t want to move into a care home, private home care can help with chores and offer the support needed to live safely in the home that they love.
What exactly is private home care?
Private home care is personal support provided in the comfort of your own home. It can alos be described as domiciliary care or home help. A professional carer can come into the home to provide practical assistance with everyday tasks like washing, cleaning and shopping and supportive care with the activities of daily living like bathing and toileting. Private home care can support independent living and make an enormous difference to quality of life.
How much home care can be provided?
Home care is very flexible and can be tailored to individual needs. It can be provided on an hourly basis or around-the-clock. Many people may need a carer to provide home help or personal assistance for an hour or two a week, others may benefit from people popping in several times a day to oversee medication, help with getting in and out of bed and preparing meals.
If a loved one is unable to live safely without support and supervision, they might need a carer to help them day and night. Live-in carers can offer care and supervision to maintain safety twenty-four hours a day.
Private home care can be temporary, while someone recovers from an operation, accident or illness. Home care can also be a long-term alternative to moving to a residential facility like a care home. Specialist carers can support people with complex health needs including incontinence, stomas, catheters and tube feeding.
What are the signs that home care is needed?
When someone is used to living and managing independently, it can be difficult to ask for help. Dementia, frailty and decreased function can gradually develop and many people are too proud or embarrassed to admit that they are struggling with daily activities.
There are clues that they are finding home life a challenge and that their safety may be at risk:
- Accident prone: Burned-out pans, taps left running or an unlocked front door could all indicate that someone is finding it difficult to cope. Near-misses could turn into significant accidents – help may be needed to maintain their safety.
- Falls: Falling is a big problem in the elderly. A third of people over the age of sixty–five fall every year, potentially leading to head injuries, bruises and broken bones. Fall also have an impact on confidence, decreasing mobility and leading to social isolation.
- Loneliness: Poor mobility, illness and the loss of a partner can make it difficult to stay social. More than a million elderly people say they feel lonely, which can have a big effect on health and wellbeing.
- Struggles with self-care: Bathing, grooming and dressing require a number of complex skills. If a loved one is looking dirty, disheveled or wrongly dressed they may be finding it difficult to care for themselves.
- Memory loss: If your loved one is confused or forgetful, they may not remember to take medication and be at risk of household accidents. Memory loss is not inevitable with increasing age, so it’s important to consider dementia . There’s no cure for the condition, but medical help may slow its progress. Make an appointment with their GP and think about contacting hometouch for care and expert support with maintaining brain health.
- Not eating or drinking: Cooking, shopping and eating take time, energy and complex skills. If the food in the fridge is out-of-date, the kitchen is dirty or your loved one is losing weight, they may need help.
- Wandering: As dementia develops, people can become restless, confused and at risk of wandering. Leaving the home can be stressful for the family and put your loved one in danger of falls, road traffic accidents and injury.