LIVE IN CARE
Live In Care
We offer a personalised Live In Care Service. This is an arrangement where a carer moves into the home of your loved one to provide round-the-clock care and one-on-one support as required. The carers are skilled, trained health care workers with years of experience in Live In care provision. They undertake the following duties:
- day to day personal care
- light housework
- laundry
- meal preparation
- administer medication as prescribed by the GP
- provide companionship
- offer physical and emotional support when needed.
Useful information for Live In Care
What is live in Care
Live in care is an arrangement where a carer moves into the home of your loved one to provide round-the-clock care, one-on-one support as required.
The carers are skilled, trained health care workers with years of experience in live in care provision. In addition to providing day to day personal care, they are also able to do light housework, laundry, meal preparation etc. They are trained in medication management; they therefore administer medication as prescribed by the GP. They provide companionship and can also offer physical and emotional support when needed.
Live in care provides families with peace of mind and assurance that their loved one is safe and cared for at all times. This means there’s always someone on hand even when you’re unable to visit personally, and your loved one never has to leave the environment they’re comfortable in. It is important to bear in mind that when your loved one’s condition deteriorates, you may need to make modifications to the house – handrails, ramps, hoists etc – to ensure this continued independence and safety.
In relation to accommodating the carer, it is a requirement that there is a spare bedroom that is used solely by the carer. All they need is a spare room the caregiver can call their own.
Pros and Cons of Live in Care
- What are the advantages of live-in care
- Support and assistance is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Your loved one does not have to move home.
- There is safety from risks of infection e.g. Covid
- Your loved one is cared for in an environment they are familiar with.
- Your loved one’s independence is maintained.
- Your loved one has constant companionship
- Live in care can enable couples to stay together
- Your loved one can have meals prepared of their choice.
Disadvantages of live-in care
- Your loved one’s home may need modifications to ensure safety e.g. hand rails, hoists etc.
- You need to have a spare room for the carer to use.
Care Home vs Live in Care
Deciding whether to place your loved one in a care home or to stay at home with a live in carer can be a very difficult decision to make. Whilst there is no right or wrong answer when it comes to making care decisions for your loved ones, safety is a major factor in making this decision.
Traditionally, care homes were seen as the better option for elderly people, for example those with dementia needing care. This year however, with the Covid pandemic, care in the person’s home has proved to be the safer option for the following reasons:
- Your loved one is allocated only one carer who will stay within the home and therefore form a safe bubble with the client.
- Your loved one will not be exposed to viruses through cross contamination e.g. the Covid pandemic, as they will be in the comfort of their own home with only their carer.
- For someone suffering from dementia for example, staying at home is a much safer option as this is the environment that they are familiar with as opposed to taking them to a care home which they are not used to.
- In addition, the fact that your loved one is in their own familiar predictable environment helps to maintain and promote their independence.
- In the home, your loved one has that 24-hour round the clock support from one carer unlike in a care home where one carer will be responsible for a number of residents at a time.
- In the home, your loved one has that much needed companionship and can receive bespoke person centred care 24 hours a day.
Ultimately, when the pros and cons are weighed, Live-in care is a far better option compared to the other forms of support due to the fact that a Live-in carer provides assistance to your loved one for 24 hours a day when required, fulfils all their needs, and provides them with comfort and companionship wherever required. Quality, compassionate expert care is brought to the comfort of your own home.
If you just have a few more questions, or if you think live-in care might be right for your loved one, please give us a ring on 01633 526 711 to discuss the care options. We will find out from you what your loved one needs for example, their likes, dislikes, their preferences, their care needs etc and also explain to you how our service works. Finding out all the information about your loved one’s strengths and needs will enable us to match the right carer suitable to meeting the needs of your loved one. Once all the information has been gathered, a personal relationship manager will also be allocated to you. They will be your key contact should you have any questions or concerns.
Steps to arranging Live in Care
Arranging live in care for your loved one is so much easier than trying to arrange for them to go into a care home.
Getting started:
- When you get in touch, we will carry out an initial assessment by asking a few questions about your circumstances to give us a better idea of exactly what it is your loved one needs in a carer. You’ll also have an opportunity to tell us more about what your loved one enjoys doing, what they’d like to do more of, how much help they need and so on.
- If you decide on engaging our services, we will proceed to carry out a risk assessment and use all information gathered to draw up a care proposal which details the care that will be provided to your loved one. We will draw up the care plan
- We will then proceed to finding you the best carer to look after your loved one.
- Before the carer moves into your loved ones home, we arrange a virtual meeting for you to meet them and ask them any questions you may have relating to the following:
- Training
- Previous care experiences
- Interests and hobbies
- Ability to cater for specific dietary requirements
We do our best to find you a carer that is right for you but should you not be satisfied, we are happy to review the situation and find you a carer you are happy with.
- Once the carer moves into your loved one’s home, they are given a care plan which details the care they are supposed to provide. We also expect them to take time in the first few days to get to know your loved one and build rapport with them. Any issues are communicated with the office as well as with yourself to ensure that your loved one receives the best care possible.
- The carer keeps a record of all the care they provide. This includes the food your loved one has eaten, the activities they have undertaken, how your loved one is feeling, etc. A record of their medication is also maintained.
Paying for Care
Selling a property to pay for care home fees is usually the norm. With live in care however, the property is not sold as your loved one will receive care in the comfort of their home.
Written below are some examples of how live in care can be funded.
Lifetime mortgages
A lifetime mortgage is when you borrow money secured against your home, provided it’s your main residence, while retaining ownership. You can choose to ring-fence some of the value of your property as an inheritance for your family. Additionally, some providers might be able to offer larger sums to those with certain medical conditions, or even ‘lifestyle factors’ such as a smoking habit. The home still belongs to you and you’re responsible for maintaining it.
Interest is charged on what you have borrowed, which can be repaid or added on to the total loan amount. When you die or move into long-term care, the home is sold and the money from the sale is used to pay off the loan. Anything left goes to your beneficiaries. If your estate can pay off the mortgage without having to sell the property they can do so. If there is not enough money left from the sale, your beneficiaries would have to repay any extra above the value of your home from your estate. To guard against this, most lifetime mortgages offer a no-negative-equity guarantee (Equity Release Council standard). With this guarantee, the lender promises you (or your beneficiaries) never have to pay back more than the value of your home. This is the case even if the debt has become larger than the property value.
If you opt for live-in care with us, we can put you in touch with lifetime mortgage advisors to assist in setting this up.
Home reversion
Home reversion is a type of equity-release scheme that lets you use some of the money that is tied up in your home. You can therefore use this money to pay for long term care. With a home reversion scheme, you sell all or part of your property at less than its market value in return for a tax-free lump sum, a regular income, or both, but stay on in your home as a tenant, paying no rent. Home reversion plans are however high-risk products as they could have major implications for tax, benefits, inheritance and your long-term financial planning. Anyone over the age of 65 can release equity through home reversion, though it’s worth getting professional advice before you make any of these sorts of decisions.
Local authority funding and direct payments
This is where your care is funded partly by the local authority but only if you have assets that do not exceed £23,500. To find out if you are eligible for funding from your local authority, you need to arrange a free care assessment in person or over the phone. This is where your loved one talks to a nurse or occupational therapist about their healthcare needs (or you can do it on their behalf if needs be). This assessor then comes back to you at a later date to tell you how much they will contribute to a care plan, and also advise on what that plan should consist of. Alternatively, the assessor may agree to contribute to your care and leave it up to you how you use it. These contributions are called ‘__direct payments__’.
NHS continuing healthcare (CHC) funding
NHS Continuing Healthcare covers every penny of your care costs. It is available for anyone with long-term health needs. Many people however do not apply for it because they simply do not realise that it exists or assume they are ineligible. To find out if your loved one is eligible, a GP or dedicated social services professional needs to refer them personally. A multidisciplinary panel of assessors then assesses whether their medical, behavioural, cognitive, physical and other needs are significant enough, and fulfil the criteria for primary health need, in order to justify the extra support.
If CHC funding is approved, the next step is that a care and support plan that meets your requirements is devised. In some cases, the CHC funders may decide to work with your local authority to cover the costs of care required, in what is known as a ‘joint package’ of care.
Benefits
There are a few types of benefit payments for the elderly, but you should contact the Department for Work and Pensions to find out exactly what your relative is eligible for.
Personal Independence Payment, or PIP, is available to those under the age of 65. Weekly contributions depend on your needs, but range from £22 to £141. If you are over 65, you would want to take a closer look at Attendance Allowance, which offers two rates of support: £55.65 and £83.10 per week.
Support and additional information can be gained from organisations like
- AgeUK, which runs a National Advice Line that can answer any questions you may have.
Website: www.ageuk.org.uk
Age UK Advice Line: 0800 678 1602
Lines are open 8am-7pm, 365 days a year. - Carers UK, which provides a handy online guide to make sense of benefits and entitlements.
Website: www.carersuk.org
Helpline is available on 0808 808 7777
Lines open from Monday to Friday, 9am – 6pm
Email: advice@carersuk.org
