Sooner or later in one’s life, we will require the support of a carer at home. If you think the time has come for your love one to receive a helping hand around the home or they need a more hands-on care approach, we are here to help.
Our guide to finding care will help ease the stress off of finding a carer for your loved one on your own. We will run down a few essential steps to find the right carer for your loved one’s needs and give you an idea of how a carer can support your loved one in the comfort of their own home.
How to find care at home
The first and most important step in finding care at home for your loved one is establishing that they are on-board with the idea. If any other members of the family should be part of the decision-making process, they should be consulted as well.
If your loved one does not welcome the idea of having care at home services because they deem them unnecessary, you and your family should slowly ease them into the idea. Many older adults don’t like the idea of having a ‘carer’. A good idea is to promote the idea of a carer as hiring a personal assistant for them instead.
Secondly, establishing the needs and requirements of your loved one from the get-go is paramount. You should understand what they are struggling with at home - whether it is just daily living activities, medication management or support moving around the home.
Making a list of all their needs and requirements will come in handy when you start having discussions with different care providers. It is important to know in advance if this will be a temporary or permanent role and whether you want to hire a carer on a part-time, full-time or live-in basis.
Thirdly, conducting thorough research of different care providers beforehand will allow you to determine which is the optimal choice to handle your loved one’s care. Yourself, your loved one and other members of the family should consult different providers to check if they can provide exactly what you are looking for and if their offering lives up to your expectations.
How a carer can support your loved one at home
There are a variety of ways a carer can support your loved one at home. Carers nowadays combine the role of carer, companion and housekeeper. A carer will not only support your loved one with their care needs, but they will also be a companion for them and help with any housekeeping tasks around the home.
We advise choosing a carer who can meet your loved one’s needs and requirements to a tee. If your loved one is suffering from a particular condition such as dementia or support with particular aids and personal equipment, you must ensure that the carer chosen has a considerable amount of experience in these areas. Some of the care duties of a carer are:
- Personal care assistance
- Support with toileting and/or continence management
- Medication management
- Assistance with mobility
- Liaising with medical professionals
- Accompanying to appointments
- Support the nutritional needs
- Encourage and active lifestyle
Apart from supporting your loved one with their daily care needs, a carer will also enhance their life by taking care of any household chores. This will be established in advance with the carer and the care provider. Some of the household chores a carer can assist with are:
- Doing the hoovering and mopping
- Doing the laundry and ironing
- Dusting surfaces
- Changing bed linen
- Cooking and preparing meals
- Running errands
- Gardening
How Guardian Carers can support you in finding the perfect carer
Guardian Carers are leaders in the provision of care services in the UK. Our expert consultants have a wealth of experience recruiting the perfect carers for our clients. A testament to this is our low replacement rate - only 5%.
Our expert consultants will be there for you and your loved one each step of the way. They will first establish what are the needs and requirements, the time frame that your loved one will need a carer for and what your expectations are from a carer.
They will then recruit experienced local carers for the role. You should know that any carer they recruit will have a minimum of 2 years of professional experience. The consultants will interview the carers, checking their experience and qualifications as well as verifying this information by calling two references. More than this, they will also perform an enhanced DBS check of all carers.
You will receive a list of carers to choose from, carefully selected based on the requirements you have provided. You and your loved one also have the option of interviewing the carers of your liking - either face to face or via video call.
Once you have made your decision, the paperwork will be handled by your specialist consultant. You will notice that everything is taken care of for you. If you decide to hire a carer for your loved one on a permanent basis, you will benefit from a 6-month replacement guarantee. This means that if things don’t go as planned, we will re-start the search process from zero. More than this, you can also use our payroll service free of charge for the first 6 months.
With Guardian Carers, your specialist consultant will be on-hand to help when you need. They will keep in touch with you and the carer you have chosen even after they have comfortably adjusted into your loved one’s home.
If you are looking to hire a carer for your loved one and would like Guardian Carers to be the ones to help you with your search, you can reach us on 0207 183 1395. If you want to know more about our services beforehand, you can consult our online care brochure.