Elderly care for couples
Staying together at home with elderly care for couples
When faced with the situation as a couple that you both require some care and support with day-to-day living, or that one of you is spending more and more time caring for the other, one of the most upsetting thoughts can be that one or both of you may need to move out of your much-loved home to receive the care you need. Most couples will have spent many years together in a family home with all their treasured memories and possessions around them, so this can be a very disconcerting time for you and your family.
Staying in the comfort and familiarity of your own home, with the help and support of a 24 hour live-in professional carer is fast becoming the preferred choice for elderly care for couples, with many more families choosing this over moving their parents into a care home setting.
Whether one of you is living with a specialist condition, like dementia or Parkinson’s and the other one just requires some support with mobility or daily routines or to recover from an operation, a perfectly matched carer can be just the answer to ensure you both are able to return to being a loving couple, whilst your care needs are supported to achieve a better quality of life. For both of you.
Why choose The Good Care Group?
We have been providing high quality, live-in care to families in England and Scotland for over 10 years. At the heart of our award-winning service is enabling people to live independently in their own home with an improved quality of life. Our approach to care at home means our clients can achieve improved health and well-being. For families they benefit from peace of mind and reassurance that their loved one is receiving the very best care and support.
A perfectly matched care team
A live-in care service usually involves two carers working a two-week rotation. They will be carefully matched working with you and your family. We make sure they are skilled and equipped to meet all your care and support needs. Our focus on matching means the chosen care team shares common interests and backgrounds. We know this means life is enjoyable for everyone. Your care team really gets to know you and your needs, which means you get the consistency of care.
Expertly trained carers
All our professional carers are required to complete our leading training programme before they care for our clients. Our programme has been created with leading charities and clinical experts. It goes beyond mandatory requirements in the care sector. Carers are then equipped to provide high-quality care and support for those living with specialist conditions. Our carers never stop learning new skills to further enhance the care they provide.
Continuity of care
Unlike an agency we employ our carers. This means they are committed to us, as we are to them. Carers enjoy the security of being employed, which means they stay with us longer. Those who work for agencies move around more. For families this means that you get continuity and consistency of the same care team caring for your loved one. This means high-quality care can be achieved with improved outcomes and no disruption to your loved one’s life.
In-house clinical experts
We have a dedicated team of in-house clinical experts. This includes a specialist consultant nurse, who also provides admiral nurse services to those living with dementia. Our management team consists of nursing professionals. They guide our carers to provide safe and effective nurse-led care at home. We also have our own in-house Occupational Therapist (OT) who works closely with healthcare professionals and our care teams. Our OT provides guidance and advice that enables people to live well in their own home with any equipment they may need. These experts lead, monitor and support our care teams to deliver best practice nurse-led care at home.
Innovative care technology
Unlike any other live-in care provider, we have our own online care community. Families, healthcare professionals and carers can access up to date information about the care being provided. It enables more effective monitoring, which means issues can be responded to efficiently. For our families it provides a reassuring window into the care their loved one is receiving. Our carers also use the online community to share ideas and support each other. It provides a vital connection which is important when remote working. Carers will use the online community so their clients can enjoy time online. This includes video calls with family, so they feel connected. Clients can use it to shop online or browse the web.
Improving health outcomes
Every decision we make is driven by delivering improved health outcomes for our clients. Our digital technology allows us to predict risk and shape the care we provide. We measure health outcomes.
We want to know we are improving the quality of our clients’ lives every year.
Our health and well-being aim to reduce:
- Behaviours that challenge
- Antipsychotic drugs in dementia care
- Falls in the home
- Hospital admissions
- Readmission to hospital
- Urinary tract infections (UTIs)
- Chest infections
- Carer stress
- They aim to promote:
- Independence
- Well-being
- Excellent nutrition and hydration
- Enjoyment in life
Highest service rating from care regulators in England and Scotland
Unlike introduction agencies we are fully regulated in England and Scotland. This means the care and support we provide is regularly inspected. We are the only dedicated live-in care provider in England to achieve an ‘Outstanding’ rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We have achieved this rating in all five measures – safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led. In Scotland, our service has been inspected by the Care Inspectorate (CI). It has achieved the highest rating of a 6 (Excellent) for quality of care and support and 5 (very good) for staffing, management and leadership. We know this provides families with peace of mind that their loved one is receiving the best possible care.
A fully managed service
Families benefit from our fully managed service delivered by care experts. This means you do not need to worry about supervising and managing the carer looking after your loved one. Our professional carers are supervised by an experienced care manager and supported by clinical experts. We provide this support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your dedicated care manager will be on hand to support you, your loved one and our carer teams. We invest in our care management team to ensure they have enough time to give the support everyone needs. With our fully managed service, families do not have the burden of managing the care arrangement themselves. We know this means families can have peace of mind, whilst enjoying quality time with their loved one. They do not have to worry about the tasks of caring.
Local teams with national coverage
We operate throughout England and Scotland with a local approach to management of our teams near you. Each dedicated care manager local to you has only a small number of clients to support. This means they can provide higher levels of monitoring and support than other home care providers. It also means a highly personalised approach to care can be delivered.
Cost of care for elderly couples
One of the most significant considerations here is the cost of care. If a couple moves into a care home, the cost of care is typically double the price of receiving high quality, live-in care at home. With live-in care there is only one weekly fee for the care team, with a small supplement for couples care depending on needs, so it is a very cost-effective alternative to moving into a care home for couples.
High quality one-to-one couples care
One-to-one care cannot be achieved even in the very best care home. With the care and support of a live-in carer, you can both continue to live life your way with the reassurance that you are getting the very best one-to-one care that meets both your needs, around the clock.
Choosing a live-in care provider
Once you have decided that live-in home care is right for you both you will need to consider choosing a care provider. This will involve deciding whether you use an introduction agency to recruit a carer for you to employ and manage yourselves, or whether you use a provider who is able to offer a regulated and fully managed service. This means the carer is employed, managed and supported by them to provide the very highest standards of care. Introduction agencies are also not regulated by The Care Quality Commission (CQC), so the quality of the care is not inspected unlike a provider who offers a managed service.
Get in touch today to see how we can help
We provide a fully managed and regulated service and are rated ‘Outstanding’ by the CQC, so you have peace of mind that the care and support you will receive is of the highest standard. Call our friendly expert team today to see how we can support you to live well at home together.