At the heart of any care plan is ensuring there is a careful balance between managing the care needs of your loved one whilst ensuring they can live as independent a life as possible.
In general, this means that a care needs assessment will focus on ensuring that your loved one has everything they need to ensure they can stay in their own home, from adjustments to the house itself to more practical help from a home carer with anything they are struggling with.
In some cases, people need to move to a care home, but this is a last resort if live-in care is an option for your loved one.
As it often overlaps both conventional home care and a residential care home placement, it can sometimes be overlooked as an option, but for many people, it can be the best choice.
To understand why it can be the best option, it is important to know what it is and how it differs from other types of care.
What Is Live-In Care?
An alternative to a care home, live-in care is when a carer stays with your loved one in their home and provides support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The carer provides comprehensive care day and night, allowing for a continuity of care if someone has complex needs or needs that require someone to be available to help them at any time.
This is usually provided at a care home, but a live-in carer can maintain this level of care whilst also allowing them to stay in familiar surroundings with a familiar face who stays with your loved one.
A live-in carer will not always be on care duties, although sometimes that can be the case for people who need round-the-clock care, so the carer will have their own bedroom, access to a bathroom, laundry facilities, Wi-Fi access and access to a TV.
How Is Live-In Care Different From Home Care?
Both home care and live-in care are designed to ensure someone can stay within their own home, but the biggest difference is that whilst a home carer will generally visit a few times a week or a few times a day depending on need, a live-in carer will typically stay at the home and provide support when needed.
It provides the independence and familiar surroundings of home care, but allows for more complex needs to be cared for and managed.
When Should You Consider Live-In Care?
Sometimes, live-in care will be suggested at a needs assessment or following a discharge from hospital following a fall or other emergency. However, there are often telltale signs before this that the current standard of care is not sufficient.
Whilst these signs can vary from person to person, here are some of the most common signs that live-in care is the best choice:
- Your loved one is struggling more when they are on their own, having near-misses or accidents that leave them sore and shaken.
- There are more mistakes with medication between care visits, especially if your loved one has a complex medicine plan.
- Your loved one seems more anxious when carers leave, and mentions feeling lonely or scared about how they are coping.
- You need to make more unplanned visits.
