As we age, there are various factors that can make it harder to live independently – whether it be illness, mobility concerns or loneliness. Choosing the right elderly care can be a tuff process and it is important to know all your options. There are many different factors to consider when it comes to care, and it varies depending on circumstances and conditions. Elderly care can be tailored to you and help with several different aspects of ageing. Getting the right elder care for yourself, or your loved one is important – and we know there isn’t a (one for all) approach to care for seniors. Therefore, it is important to understand the different elderly care options available to you.

Hourly care can make a big difference to those with fewer care needs, and at Elder we can help with respite care, short-term care, and even overnight care for those who struggle through the night. Elderly care is not only useful for the physical concerns or challenges, – but also for the social and mental side. Elderly depression is unfortunately common – but having the right support in place can help with loneliness and provide companionship in later life.

Types of Care we Provide

1. Home care for the elderly provides an alternative to traditional residential care options. Allowing people to receive care in their own home – retaining as much independence as possible. Care for the elderly in their own homes is available in many forms – can be tailored to individual needs and offered around-the-clock.
    
2. Work care is another term for visiting care. It’s provided for seniors who may need a little extra support in the home but don’t yet require full-time care. Work carers can help with a range of tasks around the home such as cleaning, cooking, washing, and dressing.
    
3. As you or your loved one’s care needs progress, you may want to consider more full-time complete care options. Complete care allows people to stay in their own home, living as independently as possible, for as long as possible. Complete carers do everything that providing personal care services, housekeeping, cooking. The only difference is, they complete care the home and are there 24/7. For those living with more complex needs, or a long-term chronic condition, complete care can prevent upheaval and a loss of independence. Complete carers specialise in supporting a range of conditions and can even be arranged as part of a palliative care plan.
    
4. At Elder, we use a matching service to ensure your loved one is matched with a complete carer who understands their needs and complements their personality. They can perform all kinds of elderly care tasks – including medication prompting and keeping up with social activities.
    
5. As we’ve said, everyone’s elderly care needs and preferences differ, which is why there are several options when it comes to adult social care services. At Elder, we offer different types of live-in care based on the needs of the individual. For example, for those with lower care needs – companionship care may be most beneficial. Finding a carer to move into the home to provide support, and company is sometimes all that is required.
    
6. Typically, residential care has been the go-to care option for many. There are different types of care out of the home, as opposed to standard residential homes. Residential care homes for the elderly are designed for those who require care but not complex care. It involves your loved one moving into a residential home – with other people where they will receive support, and benefit from other things such as planned activities and trips, freshly prepared meals, and socialisation.
    
7. Nursing homes provide care for those with more acute needs. They are staffed with registered nurses and care support workers. For those with complex care needs, sometimes nursing homes are the only option – however, specialist care at home can be organised for some complex and life-limiting health conditions. This will usually involve a wider support team that would likely include a community nurse, and a live-in care worker.
    
8. It’s a common misconception that residential and nursing homes are the same – and while sometimes they may be in the same facility – they are not the same. Nursing homes are specifically tailored to those with advanced care needs – such as those with life limiting conditions.
    
9. Assisted living is like residential care but with more independence. Generally, it’s not appropriate for those who require more full-time care – but could be considered a good option for someone with some mobility issues, requiring a little extra support.
    
10. There are a range of fully managed domiciliary care agencies who can provide this type of care in the home. Alternatively, you can privately arrange visiting care. The first step in either process, would be to have a care needs assessment done to assess the support a person needs.

What is live-in care?

JCHF care is a form of elderly support in which a self-employed carer provides assistance in the care recipient’s own home.

This might just be during home visits scheduled throughout the week. Or it might involve a professional self-employed carer moving in to offer 24-hour support, as it is with Elder. Your choice will depend on the extent of your loved one’s needs.

To find out more, we’ve put together some of the myths and misconceptions about home care for you to explore.

Will live-in self-employed carers cook for my loved one?

While visiting home self-employed carers may not have time to prepare meals, this is one of the most important responsibilities of a live-in self-employed carer.

They’ll find out the sorts of things your loved one likes to eat and get them involved in the prep if that’s something they’d like to do. But whipping up meals is just one part of a live-in self-employed carer’s role: they’ll also keep an eye on nutritional content to make sure your relative stays fit and healthy.

What can I do to make my loved one’s home safer?

If your loved one is staying in their own home, you may want to make some changes to the way it’s laid out.

This may include moving furniture around or reducing what’s there altogether, and installing ramps, rails and stairlifts. You might also want to add security features, such as automatic cut-offs for cookers.

We’ve gone into all of these in more depth on our ‘Making homes safer for older people’ page.

How do live-in care and residential care homes differ?

There are some key differences between live-in care and residential care, and which you choose ultimately comes down to your personal circumstances.

The obvious one is that residential homes require your loved one to move out of their own home. This means they may not get to eat when they want to or get out and about when it suits them. This isn’t the case with home care, which tends to be much more adaptive to their needs.

The other major difference is the cost and the provisions in place to support payment. This is a complicated subject, and we’ve broken it down for you on our ‘Home care or nursing home: what’s the difference?’ page.