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How To Prepare For a Live-In Carer

Are you preparing to welcome a live-in carer into your home? Read our guide on everything you need to know to prepare for a live in carer. This guide will cover:

 

What is live-in help?

Adapting your home for live-in care

Types of live-in care and how to prepare

How do I find a live-in caregiver?

How we can help

 

What is live-in help?

Live-in help works by having a carer come into your loved one’s home to support them with activities and tasks that they are less able to do by themselves than they once were. You will be able to choose a live-in caregiver who can manage the level of care needs that are required and you will also be able to choose a carer who you feel is a good fit in terms of personality for your loved one.

 

Adapting your home for live-in care

Adapting your home for a live-in carer may mean making changes to your home so that the live-in carer has their own bedroom, with privacy and access to a bathroom.

 

It can also mean adapting the home to help the carer better care for the person, by providing specialist equipment to support their wellbeing. This article can give you more information regarding home adaptations.

 

Types of live-in care & how to prepare

Incontinence care

One of the roles of a carer may be to provide incontinence care to someone with urinary and/or bowel incontinence. Incontinence care can help provide some alleviation of responsibility, less anxiety, and better management of incontinence for those people living with the condition. A carer can help to plan, prepare, manage, and reassure someone with incontinence, leading to the individual having a better quality of life.

Night care

Overnight care is when a carer provides support to an individual during the night-time hours. Care requirements do not stop during the night and since getting a good night’s sleep is a fundamental requirement for all, knowing that there is a trusting, supportive carer on hand can be especially reassuring and beneficial for the individual being cared for. Overnight carers can offer support with any duties that are required during the night. This typically involves helping individuals take medication on time, creating a comfortable environment for a person to sleep in, and helping individuals to the toilet, which can sometimes be disorientating in the middle of the night. For those individuals living with dementia, it can be a particularly confusing time. Having an overnight carer on hand to provide support can be reassuring.

 

Domiciliary care

This is another term for care at home. It allows an individual to live in their own home but be supported in activities, household tasks and personal care by carers that visit on an hourly basis. Care can be provided for as long as needed and home visits from fully trained care workers can be arranged, as can more full-time care from live-in carers. A care package will be based on the needs of your loved one and can be arranged to help with a wide range of tasks. Domiciliary care offers a valuable source of companionship. Seeing a familiar face every day, or a couple of times a week, brings comfort and a feeling of safety. Elderly care services may focus on companionship as loneliness can be a prevalent theme for older age groups which can affect mental and also physical wellbeing. Caregivers can offer not only physical help but also emotional support, encouragement and reassurance.

 

Medication management care

A live-in carer giver can provide support with medication management during both the day and night, which can be important for some individuals who need to take medication late at night or early in the morning. This means that the responsibility of taking medication throughout all hours of the day can be passed to a carer. A live-in carer will also develop a close relationship with the person being cared for, which can make medication management a more collaborative approach, whilst maintaining the individual’s independence. A caring relationship will also help foster a sense of trust, which can enable the cared-for individual to relax more when it comes to a carer taking over some or all of the responsibility for medication management. A live-in carer will understand about the cared for individual’s daily routine and how their medication regime fits in with this. They will also be well-rehearsed with the person’s routine, reducing the risk of error with medication administration. The live-in carer can help liaise with medical professionals regarding any medication side effects and record and implement any changes to medication dosage and use.

 

Respite care

Respite care may be required when the usual caregiver needs to take a break from their care duties, or perhaps becomes sick or wants to go on holiday. Live-in respite care replaces the usual care provided for a certain amount of time. The carers who do this are trained to handle emergency situations which may happen while the family/usual carer are away. Respite care may need to last a few days or several weeks, depending on the situation. Emergency situations may also require a respite carer at short notice. It can also be an opportunity to try out home care for a short period of time to see if it works for you and your loved one.

 

Personal care

Personal care usually refers to assisting with any care that is of a personal or private nature.

This encompasses activities such as:

  • washing, bathing and showering
  • skin care
  • hair care, shaving and grooming
  • fingernail, toenail and feet care
  • oral hygiene and care of teeth, including toothbrushing and care of dentures
  • clothes dressing
  • cooking and eating
  • incontinence care, stoma care and catheter care
  • help with mobility

 

A caregiver can go into the home of the person receiving care to help them with personal care duties. Live-in carers for the elderly often provide these personal care duties as it can be harder to independently maintain personal hygiene as we age. By having a live-in carer giver this can help foster a closer relationship between carer and the person cared for which can help reduce embarrassment and carers will be experienced in understanding and respecting the dignity of the person they are caring for. Personal care support may also be necessary for those recovering post-surgery and those that have a disability that renders them less able to manage their own personal care needs. These duties are arguably some of the most important as they help someone to feel clean and comfortable.

How do I find a live-in caregiver?

In general, you can either find your own live in carer by placing job adverts but this can be very stressful and time-consuming or use the services of live-in care agency or introductory agency.

 

How we can help

At The Live in Care Company, we use our expertise and experience to match you with your perfect carer. We get to know you to better understand your needs, and can advise you on the next steps after you have decided to find a live in carer. Our expert team will be happy to speak to you, and will match you with a skilled and experienced live-in carer. Make an enquiry today, contact hello@theliveincarecompany.co.uk or call 0118 449 2373.

 

 

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