How can I get home care help for my parents?
Posted on 5th April 2023 at 09:41
Unfortunately, as we age, we become more susceptible to long- or short-term illnesses, disabilities and injuries, and it’s perfectly natural that at some point, you may see your parents begin to struggle with everyday activities. This can happen over a long period of time, or they could deteriorate very quickly. This can be an unsettling experience for most people, with the roles almost being reversed and the parent now being the one in need of being cared for, after caring for you all those years.
Maybe you find yourself in a position where you’re unable to help meet there needs, there needs might be too complex, you might have other commitments, there condition might require more hours than your able to give, or perhaps you no longer live locally. It might even be that they just need temporary care to help with recovery from an injury or hospitalisation.
Or maybe, that after years of providing the care yourself, you feel out of your depth or are too overwhelmed to carry on in the same capacity. The first thing to understand is that you shouldn’t feel guilty for needing help, professional help not only benefits your parent, as they are going to receive high quality care from a highly trained professional. It is also going to help you, relieving you of the pressures and stress that come alongside caring for a loved one, and allows you to get back to that relationship of a parent and child.
In that case, you might now be considering organising home care services for your parent. Having a professional care worker can make a huge difference to their life and allow them to stay living independently in their own home, instead of moving in with family or to a care home. Homecare is extremely flexible, your parent might only require an hour once a week, several hours a day, a live-in carer or just temporarily whilst recovering from an illness or injury. No matter what your needs are, a domiciliary care company, such as Academy Care can provide it.
Where to begin
The first thing to do when considering homecare services for your parent is to contact your parents’ local council social services department, who will be able to arrange a care needs assessment. This will help you to better understand the level of help that your parent will require, to make there day to day life easier, it might also identify any ideas for adaptations to their home that will make it easier to get around when nobody is there to assist them. The purpose of these assessments is to identify tasks that would require some assistance, but the key is to maintain their independence for as long as possible.
From here, depending on individual circumstances, you may get assistance from the council in finding a homecare company to come and help with your parents needs or you may decide to make the arrangements yourself through a private arrangement with a company. Again, depending on personal circumstances, your local council may contribute towards the cost of homecare, or you may have to pay for it yourself.
For more advice on the costs involved in homecare, please take a look at the information provided by the NHS here.
What help can domiciliary carers provide?
It’s common to associate professional care workers with only providing nursing care, while they do provide these services to some clients in need of it, they also provide a variety of other services as well. It may be that your parent only needs help with their household chores, with their household slowly becoming more and more difficult to maintain over the years as they grow older, things such as-
• Cleaning
• Preparing meals
• Laundry
• Shopping
• Collecting Prescriptions
• Taking the bins out
Carers can also provide more personal care and support if necessary, providing help with things like-
• Getting out of bed in the morning
• Washing and dressing
• Using the toilet
• Remembering to take medications.
• Medical needs
• Getting ready for bed in the evening
Finally, carers are also able to provide support and social care, so that your parent can have a regular visitor for contact and support, to help combat loneliness and allow them to socialise. This includes-
• Just sitting and having a cup of tea and a chat
• Getting out, like attending a social group
• Going shopping
• Helping to maintain hobbies
There are of course loads of different tasks that a carer can provide support and assistance with and depending on the results from the care needs assessment, a care plan will be created and tailored to your parents’ specific needs. This will be continuously assessed to ensure that they are receiving the correct care for them and will be updated if they were to deteriorate any further or require more assistance, allowing them to have as much independence as possible.
How can we help?
Academy Care, are a domiciliary care company, providing support to individuals whom for reasons of ill health or disability, could benefit from long or short-term domiciliary care services in the comfort and familiar surroundings of their own home. Our highly trained, passionate carers, support people daily in their own homes, to optimise both their independence and wellbeing.
We create tailored care plans to meet the needs of all our clients, working with the client, their family and any medical or social services to ensure that the client gets the very best care for them. We also continuously monitor these care plans to ensure that they are up to date with the needs of the client, as needs can change very quickly.
We will work with you, the client’s family to deliver the care, helping to ensure that everyone involved is happy with the care being provided and that the client’s needs are being met through our service.
If you would like to discuss how we can help you and your parent, give us a call on 01924 925 244, alternatively look at our services here.
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