Care in your own home Carefully chosen home care, with a good-quality provider, is an excellent way to retain your freedom and independence, whilst getting the help you need to stay happy and safe. It can offer the opportunity to stay at home, in your own familiar surroundings, and to retain a quality of life you might have feared lost. Types of services that could be offered include: • Personal care, such as help with getting dressed or washing. • Help with eating, preparing and cooking food. • Help with taking medication. • Help around the home with tasks such as washing up and laundry. Why choose home care? Reasons for choosing home care can vary. Sometimes, after a stay in hospital, someone might find they need some help whilst they recuperate. Others can find that a long-term condition or disability means they need some assistance at home. After a stay in hospital, someone may carry out an assessment of your situation to see if home care will benefit you. You and your family will be fully involved in looking at what will suit you best if you’d like them to be. Alternatively, you or those close to you might notice changes in your ability to manage the day-to-day things you normally cope with easily, like preparing meals or looking after yourself. If this happens, contacting Adult Social Care is a good first step towards finding help. How home care can help you The level of home care provided can be tailored to meet your needs – from a visit once a day to a much greater amount of support. Even those with quite significant and debilitating medical conditions can get skilled personal care that can enable them to stay in their own home. Some agencies offer live-in care, where a care worker will stay with you at home to support you throughout the day and night.
Live-in care For some people, it’s preferable and more economical to have a care worker actually living in their own home. This is called 24-hour live-in care and can provide care to people with very high care needs on a permanent basis. 24-hour live-in care can also provide respite breaks for regular carers and short-term support following hospital discharge. Live-in care can be arranged for a short period, for example, a week, or on an ongoing basis. Typical charges for this service depend on the amount of care and the particular skills required. Live-in care is also available to people with permanent physical or mental health difficulties who require long-term ongoing care. Finding the right support Looking for care in your area? Want to know the quality rating of providers you’re considering? Care Choices, publisher of this Directory, has a website providing comprehensive details of care providers as well as essential information. You can search by postcode, county or region for care homes, care homes with nursing and home care providers that meet your needs across the country. Your search can be refined by the type of care you are looking for and the results can be sent to you by email. They can also be saved and emailed to others. The website includes detailed information for each care provider, including the address, phone number and the service’s latest CQC inspection report and rating (see page 53), indicating the quality of care provided. You can also view an electronic version of this Directory on the site and have it read to you by using the ‘Recite Me’ function. Visit www.carechoices.co.uk The Care Quality Commission (www.cqc.org.uk) is responsible for checking that any care provided meets essential standards of quality and safety. Further information is on page 53.
Visit www.carechoices.co.uk for further assistance with your search for care
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