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Welcome to The Live-in Care Hub. The Place to Find Expert Advice on Arranging a Carer To Live In Your Own Home

‘Live in care’ is the full-time homecare alternative to moving into a care home. Arranging live in care provides peace of mind for all the family and combines one-to-one care with the independence of life at home.

‘The Live-in Care Hub’ is an impartial information resource and a friendly point of contact where you can learn all you need to help make a decision about arranging live in home help for yourself or a relative.

There are many excellent live in care agencies and we are here to help you find the perfect one for you and your family.

Could you or a relative benefit from the round-the-clock support of a professional, qualified and vetted carer?

Someone to live with you and provide help with (for example):

Getting Up
A morning cup of tea
Washing & Dressing
Medication Reminders
Nutritious Home-Cooked Meals
Companionship & Escorting to Appointments
Housekeeping & Laundry
Getting ready for bed
The security of knowing someone is there if needed

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Free up hospital beds – 6 Reasons every CCG should use live-in care

Many CCGs are seeking expressions of interest from residential and nursing homes willing to help during the COVID-19 crisis and free up hospital beds as they ramp up discharges.

Live-in care is a safer alternative to discharging people into a care home as it mitigates the risk of COVID-19 cross-transmission between care home residents. Instead people are professionally cared for in their own home.

Better at Home Report 2020

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Taking Care of Your Own Health as a Live-in Carer

Looking after an elderly person, especially one who may have health and/or mobility problems can be tiring and difficult at times. If that person also has dementia the task can be doubly hard. Those carers also need to take extra care of their own health in order to do their job properly and to the high standard expected.

Look After Your Health and Wellbeing

Anyone who is stressed and over-tired, no matter how physically fit you may be, will eventually start to feel run down and ill. You must take steps to avoid this by observing a few common sense rules:

Get enough sleep. Sleep allows you to rest and recharge leaving you ready to tackle the day. Avoid coffee and alcohol late at night as these interfere with sleep patterns. A warm bath and a milky drink before bedtime can help you to relax into sleep. Rest during the day where you can if you can’t sleep at night.
Regular exercise helps your muscle strength, blood pressure and heart rate. Stretching exercises and a daily walk are often all that’s needed but for something a little more lively try dancing to music for 30 minutes – this could benefit your patient too providing they have GP approval of course.
Watch your diet. Try to get your 5-a-day fruit and veg but treat yourself to a favourite food now and then.
Maintain contact with friends, family and favourite pastimes and social activities for the sake of your mental wellbeing.

Get the Right Support

No matter how good and how dedicated you are to looking after your elderly patient you can’t do everything to a high standard without a good support network in place. Too many good carers struggle on by themselves until they start to become ill and this is no help to the person you look after.

When a live-in carer is part of a professional team you know you can always call on agency and health professionals when you need advice. If the elderly person’s family members or friends are in regular close contact don’t be afraid to ask them for help when it’s needed. They could help you by sometimes preparing meals, helping with household chores or accompanying the elderly person on a day out so that you can get things done at a more leisurely pace. If it is feasible or possible, consider having someone to stay overnight so that you can get a good night’s sleep.

You can also consider respite care services where these are available because it is important that you take regular breaks to rest and recharge now and again.

Take Care of Your Emotional Health

Caring for elderly people with life-limiting health conditions can take its toll. Remember that it’s normal to sometimes feel overwhelmed. If you find yourself becoming upset whilst trying to stay resilient, consider speaking to a professional counsellor for advice on how to manage your emotions.

Care At Home Is Flexible To Suit Your Needs and Way of Life

A recent survey of live-in care providers by The Live-in Care Hub has given a deeper insight into this type of care in the United Kingdom. It has revealed, as have may previous independent surveys, that care in the home by skilled, professional live-in carers offers significantly better outcomes for older people in terms of both their physical and mental health and also their quality of life. They are less likely to suffer falls and urinary tract infections (UTIs) and far less likely to succumb to highly contagious viruses such as the corona virus.

These better health outcomes are the result of the dedicated one-to-one care provided by a professional live-in carer. A dedicated carer is vigilant to signs of UTIs and, because they live in your home, they are more aware of trip hazards and simply more often in the same room to help prevent falls, which can so often lead to serious mobility problems. When it comes to cross transmission of highly contagious viruses risks are far lower because carers are only looking after a single client in one dwelling (or sometimes a couple in the same house).

In care homes where carers and other staff regularly come into close contact with numerous elderly people the chances of illnesses being quickly transmitted to all residents throughout the care home are very high. We have seen this tragic situation in care homes during the corona virus pandemic at a time when seniors receiving 24/7 care in their own homes had only a tiny fraction of deaths from COVID-19 compared to those in care homes.

The clear difference between live-in care and a care home

What is a clear difference between professional live-in care and care homes is the flexibility of live-in care to enable elderly people to live their lives in the way that suits them in their later years. When to eat, what to eat, when to go to bed, when to get up, what to do for entertainment, who to socialise with – these are fundamental rights for all of us. Why deny yourself those choices by moving into a residential care home just because you are that bit older and need some help with daily living?

Live-in care provides everything a residential care home can provide – just better. Tailored to you as an individual, enabling you to stay in your own home surrounded by all your possessions collected over a long life; and allowing you to remain part of your community. Imagine having to condense your whole life into a single room – no matter how lovely that room is? And being close to friends and neighbours you have know for a long time is far preferable to suddenly being surrounded by strangers and having to make new friends in later life.

The live-in care organisations polled in the most recent study were varied in size with some offering services to a small number of clients in a specific part of the UK, whilst others were larger organisations with thousands of clients offering their service right across the UK, including on the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. What was clear from all these providers, regardless of their size and national reach, was that they all offered a flexible, adaptable service aimed at providing a highly-personalised service for every individual client.

A Highly-Skilled Care Service

The range of issues that live-in carers deal with is wide and varied. For many older people, having a live-in carer is as much about safety and security, as it is about care. But for other families, live-in care is invaluable in managing serious medical conditions such as dementia, Parkinson’s, loss of mobility, MS and physical disabilities.

Live-in care has sometimes been confused with companion care, which is more of a ‘light’ touch to care, focused on company, cooking meals and shopping trips. Whilst these are undoubtedly part of the service on offer through a live-in carer, virtually all the organisations who responded listed ‘end of life’ care as part of what they provide and have provided.

In other words, live-in care is as adaptable as it is specialist. Skilled carers can live in and provide the scale of care that their elderly clients need. And when care needs change then the care provided can expand to meet the clients’ needs. Where necessary in co-ordination with nursing care, although some live-in carers do have nursing experience.

This means that live-in care is one of the most flexible and adaptable forms of care for elderly people. It is a permanent solution, giving peace of mind to both the client and their family. Knowing elderly relatives are being looked after by a skilled, committed carer who can dedicated all their time and energy to their one client is the ideal sort of care for older people. It ensures they can live their later years with dignity, always have companionship and know that their health and quality of life will be the best it can possibly be.

Fully Managed or Introductory Services

Old people and their families can choose from a fully-managed live-in care service where an agency manages all the arrangements with the carers and ensures ongoing training and professional development of their staff. Alternatively, some agencies offer a simple introductory service, matching the right live-in carers with their elderly clients. There are also a small number of organisations who offer live-in nursing service, a solution that many people turn to towards the end of life.

Whatever type of service you choose to fulfil your requirement for care in your own home you can rest assured that all carers from the providers who are members of the Live-in Care Hub will be trained, vetted professionals whose aim is to provide individual care tailored to your health needs and your personal preferences.

Live-in care is part of a growing trend for seniors to ensure they have the quality of care they deserve and need for a healthy and happy later life. Although currently comprising a much smaller percentage of all senior care in the UK than care homes places it has been well-established for many years. It’s currently increasing popularity is a result of growing awareness of the benefits and the affordability of this type of care and a recognition that there are better alternatives than residential care homes.

Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about 24-hour elderly care. These live-in care FAQs will hopefully provide some of the answers to the questions you have about care in your own home in later life.

WHAT IS LIVE-IN CARE?

Live in care is as simple as it sounds. A fully trained carer lives with you in your own home to help you achieve a higher quality of life and this can involve:

➤ Providing help with specific tasks
➤ Providing company
➤ Enabling you to remain independent as much as possible
➤ Providing a sense of security

24-hour support can be tailor made and match you with the right carer or team of carers that can offer:

➤ Assistance with bathing and dressing
➤ Cooking nutritious meals
➤ Medication reminders
➤ Companionship and outings
➤ Housekeeping and laundry
➤ Getting ready for bed
➤ Pet care

HOW DOES LIVE IN CARE WORK?

Just the simple act of helping someone out of bed and making them a morning cup of tea or coffee can make all the difference to the rest of a loved one’s day as can the security of another human presence living in their home to be “on hand” whenever required.

We provide the resources so that you can have a fully trained carer living with you under your roof. The carer will require their own room – a comfortable single room to call their own is plenty.

WHAT IS AN IN-HOME CARE PROVIDER?

The Live In Care Hub is a collaboration of high-quality care providers that enable people to be cared for within their own homes instead of having to “go into a home”.

Some loved ones are very happy within good quality residential care, but many are still unaware of the lesser known option of remaining at home and having their own personalised “live in” carer. The Live In Care Hub was created to raise awareness that this indeed is an option.

HOW MUCH DOES LIVE-IN CARE COST IN THE UK?

The cost is comparable to residential care, but it can make all the difference to the quality of life for a loved one to be able to remain in their home. This is because residential care home fees are mainly for accommodation and food and the actual care given in a 24-hour period, in comparison to live in care, can be significantly less.

The beauty of live in care is that our carers offer 100% care time; and live in fees are even more cost effective when required for a couple. The fees obviously depend on the level of care required and there are several tiers of support available from simple companionship care with minimal personal care right through to complex care that may include nurse-led services and dementia care.

You can find out more about care funding here.

It is important to remember that everyone’s needs are different and so all options should be considered when weighing up the benefits of residential versus live-in care.

HOW DO I FIND A LIVE-IN CARE-GIVER?

The Live In Care Hub is a not-for-profit, unbiased resource that can help match you to the right service provider and carer (or team of carers) for you, whether your needs are simple or complex. You can choose from:

Full management
This is where one of our providers hires and trains its own care staff with clients and their loved ones deciding what level of service is required. This can include 24/7 care which oversees some medical needs, and this can provide peace of mind for a busy family; knowing that their loved one is being fully taken care of.

Introductory service
This is where one of our introductory agencies offers a pool of highly qualified, self-employed agency staff for you to choose from. A typical scenario would be a maximum of 3 carers provided throughout the year; with the transition from one member of care staff to the next carried out carefully to ensure continuity of care.

Find a live-in carer here.

DO YOU HAVE TO PAY FOR CARERS IN YOUR OWN HOME?

You may be entitled to supplementary funding from the government in the form of attendance allowance or personal independence payments which can help towards the cost of live in care. You may also be entitled to funding under the NHS Continuing Healthcare scheme; anyone is entitled to a free assessment to see whether they will get help towards the cost of care needs.

Usually families will have to pay for live in care; we recommend that you get in touch with Care Funding Guidance who are the only not-for-profit organisation within the UK that provides free help and information about funding elderly care. They aim to ensure your finances are in good shape and that your particular care costs are transparent from the outset.

WHAT IS THE AVERAGE COST FOR LIVE IN CARE?

Live in care can start from as little as £695 per week. Obviously, this will vary depending on the care provider/agency and the specific needs of the client. The area in which you live will also affect the cost with the South-East of England and particularly London being higher than the average cost. However, this average cost compares favourably with residential care but offers a complete one to one level of care. For couples needing care it can be more cost-effective than two care home places.

WHAT ARE HOMECARE SERVICES?

Home care services offer a person-centred alternative to residential care that enable a loved one to feel as though they are still a part of everyday life. With home care, a client can remain in their home in familiar surroundings and routines with as little or as much help as they need to go about their daily activities.

Home care services are usually delivered without the carer living in the client’s home.

HOW DO I ARRANGE HOME CARE OR LIVE-IN CARE?

There are several avenues open to you. If you wish to arrange home care or live-in care via your local council then you will need to get in touch with the local authority and request a needs assessment which is free. If you meet the criteria you will be eligible for care provided via the local authority.

If you are not eligible for local authority funding you can arrange for a private carer through one of the live-in care companies operating across the UK. You can find companies that operate in your area via a postcode search,

Irrespective of your financial situation; you can always contact a private care provider directly. The Live In Care Hub offer free, impartial advice for anyone considering live in care.

HOW CAN I BECOME A LIVE-IN CARER?

All members of the Live-in Care Hub pride themselves on the quality of their carers. Many train their staff to extremely high standards .

What experience do I need to be a live-in carer?
A willingness to care for and help others is the main ingredient. The 3 main qualities are:

➤ First aid experience
➤ Professional experience of caring for elderly or vulnerable people
➤ Personal experience.

Many people begin giving care from a young age for family members without even being really aware that they were “carers”.

Specialist training for special people
You would need to attend several rounds of interviews and pass all security checks. If successful; you would then need to be prepared to undertake specialist training to ensure you deliver the utmost in quality of care. All of the care companies that are members of the Live-in Care Hub are looking for special people to fulfil these important roles. You can find vacancies here

CAN PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA OR ALZHEIMER’S BE CARED FOR AT HOME?

Yes. As long as it is safe to do so. It can be of immense benefit for the person living with dementia to remain in familiar surroundings. Many family and friends offer help and support to their loved ones with these conditions but if this is not possible or becoming a struggle; live in care can help ease the strain.

HOW LONG CAN SOMEONE WITH DEMENTIA OR ALZHEIMER’S LIVE AT HOME?

Many people; especially those more mildly affected, can be cared for safely at home for many years but as these conditions progress, there may come a time when their needs are no longer able to be met. This is because carers are not responsible for:

➤ Heavy moving and lifting
➤ Constant night care (a single carer cannot be expected to manage 24hr shifts)

However, if clients have changing care needs than the care package can be adapted to include night time interventions. Nursing care can also be provided. These additional elements may mean that your loved one is able to live for as long as possible in their own home.

Live in care may not be the right option if the person displays very challenging behaviour. The safety of both the carer and client is paramount to ensure the best working relationship and care package is in place.

DO THOSE WITH DEMENTIA OR ALZHEIMER’S PAY FOR THEIR OWN CARE?

Not necessarily. The same assessment and funding process/options apply as they do for a limiting physical health condition.

If you are receiving support in your own home you are still entitled to keep a basic level of income.

You may need to pay for all of your care whether you are living in your own home or in residential care. This means you are a self-funder or you may make a contribution with the local authority and/or the NHS providing funding under the continuing care scheme.