Care at Home - Domiciliary Care

When an older person starts to struggle with the tasks of daily living, the preferred option is usually to arrange suitable care at home. This is often referred to as Domiciliary Care and enables the individual to continue to live in his or her own home for as long as possible.

Types of Care at Home

There are three types of care at home.

1. Personal care for the older person, examples of which include:

• Washing and dressing
• Toileting
• Meal preparation
  
• Assistance with mobility

2. Domestic help in the home, examples of which include:

• Cleaning
• Laundry
• Shopping

3. Medical help in the home, examples of which include :

• Changing dressings
• Administering medication

How much care will be available?

The amount of care delivered by the Local Authority will vary depending on your needs and will be determined by a Social Services assessment. It may any of the following:-

• Daily pop in visits (most common)
• Hourly visits (very rare)
• 24 hour care by rota, with separate day and night shifts
• Live-in care where one carer lives in normally shared between a couple of carers.

Financial Assessment?

If your social services assessment assesses you as needing care in your own home, a care plan will be drawn up and the local authority will offer you a financial assessment (means test) to see if they would pay for the care or ask you to pay for it

For information on this financial assessment, please visit paying for care at home.