Home help
Have you ever felt like you could benefit from an extra pair of hands at home? Such support is available in the form of home help. Home help describes a wide range of professional home care services that allow those with care needs to receive the extra help at home they need while retaining their independence and lifestyle.
Here we explore what home help is and its many compelling benefits. If you’re considering home help for yourself or a loved one, do not hesitate to contact The Good Care Group’s friendly and approachable team to discuss your care needs
What is home help?
Home help is when a professional carer comes to a client’s home to provide personal care, companionship and emotional support. It can start at just 60 minutes a day with hourly care or domiciliary care, and can be provided for the long-term by full-time, live-in carers.
Home help is available for a range of different care needs including:
- Personal care
- Companionship and emotional support
- Domestic and household support
- Medication administration and management
- Support for specialist conditions
- Complex care
No matter your unique care needs, a personalised care solution is available to help you live happily and independently in the comfort of your home.
Who is home help for?
There are many reasons why a person may seek the extra support that home help provides.
Home help is available for anyone that requires a helping hand with practical tasks such as getting in and out of bed, washing up, domestic tasks around the home or going shopping. Unlike residential nursing or care homes, live-in care allows those with care needs to live independently in the comfort and familiarity of their own home while receiving the assistance they need.
Home help is not limited by age. Anyone over 18, couples, those recovering from illness or a hospital stay, and people living with disabilities may all benefit from home help. Home help services are often flexible and can be adapted to suit your needs and lifestyle.
Home help can also be much more than just help with physical tasks. Loneliness and social isolation are widespread problems that are often experienced later in life. Companionship care is available to provide consistent friendship and emotional support when you need it most.
What types of home help are available?
Home help may take many different forms. There are several different help at home services available to address your ongoing care needs.
Short-term care or respite care is a short-term and flexible solution that lasts for a limited amount of time. Respite care allows those in need to receive the short-term care they require while their family members take a break from caring for their loved one. Respite care also provides the opportunity to try out live-in care before a permanent arrangement is made.
Full-time live-in care is when a professional carer moves into the client’s home to provide them with round-the-clock care. Live-in care offers people with care needs the ability to maintain their independence and remain in their much-loved home, all while receiving the care they need.
Long-term care or complex care is available for those with substantial and ongoing care needs due to chronic illness, disabilities or following a hospital stay. A specialist, live-in carer will move into the client’s home and provide quality, one-to-one care. Nurse-led care is available for those living with specialist conditions like dementia, Parkinson’s or multiple sclerosis, or for those in need of specialist care such as cancer care, stroke care and palliative or end-of-life care.
Overnight care is an option available to those that need extra help at home during the night time. Throughout the night, a trained and professional carer will provide support with toileting, medication administration, moving position in bed or any other night time care needs.
What if I need just a little support?
For people with ongoing care needs that require occasional support, we will soon be extending our ‘outstanding’ live-in care service to deliver hourly care at home in London.
With hourly care, a carer will visit once or twice a day (sometimes more depending on your needs) to provide specific support to complete day-to-day tasks, like getting up, washing and dressing and preparing meals.
Hourly care can be provided from a 60-minute visit a day for a minimum of three times per week. Some of our clients will require us to visit more than once a day, sometimes several visits a day or a few times a week. Our service is flexible so you can have as many hours as you require to make sure you have the support you need.
What are the benefits of receiving home help?
When it comes to home help, there are countless benefits to receiving help in your own home rather than enduring the potential disruption of moving into a care home:
- A level of dedicated, one-to-one care that is difficult to achieve even in the best care home settings
- Reduced feelings of loneliness and isolation thanks to the companionship of a carer
- Relief from the burden of domestic chores
- Remaining in the community you love amongst family and friends
- Improved health outcomes
- Continuity of care, even 24 hours a day
- An immediate and appropriate response to medical emergencies such as slips and falls
- Peace of mind for family members
Learn more about the many life-enriching benefits of receiving live-in home help.
Home help from The Good Care Group
Choosing the right home help provider is an important decision. Long gone are the days when the only option available for people with care needs was to move into a care home. Now, live-in care is available for those that want to maintain their independence while receiving the quality care they need in the comfort of their own home.
For over 10 years, the Good Care Group has set the industry standard for completely tailored, live-in care. We are the only live-in home care service in England to achieve an ‘Outstanding’ rating by the Care Quality Commission in all five measures – safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led.
As a fully-managed home help service provider, we select, train and manage all our professional carers well beyond the industry standard. This allows us to offer our clients highly-personalised support at home and an unrivalled quality of care.
The cost of home help
A common misconception is that the cost of receiving help at home is more expensive than other types of care. This is simply not the case. The costs of live-in care are actually in line with the costs of a typical care home, and sometimes even less. For couples, receiving home help is a cost-effective solution, especially when compared to the cost of two bedrooms in a care home.
Social care funding or healthcare funding may also be available to help cover the costs of home help.
Arrange home help
If you have decided that you or a loved one could benefit from our expert home help service, get in touch with us today. We will arrange for a no-obligation assessment of your needs. This assessment will inform our care plan that will be tailored to not just your care needs but how you wish to live your life.
If support at home is needed in an emergency, we can often arrange for care in as little as 48 hours. We can also assist with hospital discharge and recovery at home after an operation.
Talk to us about your care needs
To talk about your care needs, contact one of our friendly advisors. Calls from landlines are free.