What is 24-Hour Home Care and How Can It Help?

What is 24 hour care?

There are so many terms used to describe different types of care and services provided in the home care sector that it can be confusing, to say the least. If you’re new to live-in home care, or 24-hour live-in care, then the differences can be difficult to understand.

Here we explain everything you need to know about 24-hour care at home, how it’s different to live-in care, the benefits of 24-hour live-in care, the costs involved and how you, or a loved one, can find out more and get assessed.

Live-in 24-hour care describes being supported, 24-hours a day, in your own home by professionally trained home carers. This means that someone is always there, at any time of day or night, on shift and ready to help with any aspect of your home support. Whether it be assistance with care late in the evening, support to access the toilet safely in the middle of the night, or help with agitation and waking in the night, carers will be with you 24 hours a day whenever you need them. With 24 hour care, you have the constant reassurance that there is always someone on hand to provide you with consistent and professional care, any time you need them.

What’s the difference between 24-hour care and live-in care?

Whilst a live-in carer is present 24/7 in your home they will be available to support you during their agreed shift hours, usually 10 to 12 hours a day. With live-in care, carers will do ‘sleeping nights’ which means you’ll need to wake them up if you need any additional support. The carer may charge a fee for being woken up to help with unforeseen needs and may need additional time off during their day shift if they have been woken several times in the night.

With 24-hour care on the other hand, you get a dedicated night carer who stays awake during the night time to ensure your safety and health needs are met, no matter what time it is. Usually, in a 24-hour care setting you will have 2 carers; 1 for the day shift, and 1 for the night shift, meaning that one carer is fully on duty at all times while the other carer gets complete rest.

Here at Country Cousins, we have 60 years experience in providing excellent home-care services, including 24-hour care, through our professional and compassionate carers (we like to call them Cousins because they become like one the family) who are individually selected and studiously matched to find the right live-in assignment for the care-giver and care-receiver. Meaning you can rest assured that you’re receiving the highest quality care from our experienced Cousins who are not only highly trained but also personally matched to you and your situation.

How does 24-hour live-in care work?

When people receive 24-hour home care from Country Cousins, a professional and highly trained Country Cousin caregiver will move into the home to give full-time support. At Country Cousins there are 2 types of home care:

• Waking Nights Care – Our Night Support or Waking Nights care means that a carer will remain awake throughout the night to provide care, usually for night time agitation and toileting needs. This is often paired with a daytime live-in carer and allows the daytime carer to rest while the night-time care is covered by another carer.
• Sleeping Nights Care – The daytime live-in carer who will provide care during the daytime can be on hand in the night to provide help if necessary. This is usually only if occasionally needs care during the night, as a ‘waking fee’ can be charged by the carer. This usually covers 8 hours, such as 11 pm–7 am, depending on the person’s routine.

What Do 24 Hour Carers Help With?

24-hour home care is personal, practical, and nursing care, provided day and night. 24-hour care consists of any activity that you need support with at home to live a healthy and safe life in the comfort of your own home. Our Country Cousin carers can support you with:

1. Personal care including washing, dressing, shaving, and toilet needs
2. Recreational support, companionship, and mental well-being
3. Mobility support and steadying (e.g. with a walking frame or walking stick)
4. Advanced live-in care, such as dementia, Parkinson’s, cancer, or palliative care
5. Help taking medications or order prescriptions
6. Light housework, laundry, shopping, and preparing meals
7. Domestic administrations such as daily errands, arranging appointments, or organising payments for regular services (e.g. milkman, newspaper delivery, window cleaning)
8. Pet feeding and care, such as taking your dog for a short daily walk

Most people who require 24-hour care will have advanced care needs, which necessitate more than one live-in carer (to cover day and night times) as well as ongoing local care support (such as visiting District Nurses or Occupational Therapists).

At Country Cousins our care managers work with you and your family to tailor a personalised care plan based on your specific situation and requirements, ensuring you get the best care from a carer that has been personally matched to suit the assignment. Creating a support plan is very much a collaborative process so everything is tailored to the care-receivers requirements, regardless of health condition.

Getting Assessed For 24 Hour Care

If you feel that you or a loved one may require 24-hour care the first step is to get an assessment to understand your needs. You can arrange an assessment by contacting your local authority or your GP. Country Cousins can also help arrange an assessment, just get in touch with our professional and compassionate team and we can explain the process. However, if currently in hospital, an assessment will be carried out by the discharge team.

The purpose of the assessment is to understand your, or your loved ones, needs. It will confirm whether live-in care or 24-hour care is needed depending on several factors, such as sleep quality and behaviour, medical conditions, and mobility. The highly trained and experienced team will then make recommendations for the most suitable care to ensure the person’s comfort, safety, and care are met to the highest standards.

At Country Cousins, we like to make things as easy and clear as possible. So, if you would like the care and support of a Country Cousin, or you just want to find out more before you make a decision, we have a no obligation and free assessment process. Simply get in touch today for a chat.

The Benefits of 24 Hour Care

24-hour care can be a wonderful way to maintain independence in the comfort of one’s own home. Many studies have shown that when faced with home care or residential care the vast majority prefer to stay at home. Not only that but people’s health and happiness can be maintained at a higher level when supported and cared for at home.

Here are just some of the benefits that you can be enjoyed with 24-hour care;

• Better mental health (due to staying at home and not going into residential care) -Maintaining familiar surroundings with home comforts, pets, and family memories can boost physical and mental well-being, and help nurture a sense of stability.
• Familiar surroundings and the comfort of home – especially beneficial for people with dementia or Alzheimer’s, and allows for continued involvement with pets, neighbours, and community.
• Personalised care – 24-hour live-in care is tailor-made to suit personal preferences, care needs, home situations, and more, ensuring they get exactly the right type of support they need from a carer that has been carefully matched to them.
• Round-the-clock support – 24/7 care delivered by trained and experienced carers in a safe, personal way.
• Supports independence – loss of independence, and the knock-on effects that can have on physical and mental health, is a common fear for many elderly people. Maintaining independence and control of one’s life, even for seemingly small things such as what time to eat, can have huge benefits to quality of life.
• Peace of mind – for you and your family, knowing that your loved one’s needs are always met in a consistent, professional, and compassionate manner.
• Value for money – When compared to a residential care home, 24-hour live-in care may work out not much more expensive, with the benefit of receiving a much higher level of personalised service in the comfort of one’s own home.

How much does 24-hour care at home cost?

One of the most common concerns when arranging 24-hour care is just how much that care might cost. Everyone’s needs are different and due to the bespoke nature of implementing personalised 24-hour care, it’s difficult to give an exact figure. However, 24 hour live-in care is often not that much more expensive than residential care in a care home.

Another factor to consider is whether the person requiring care is eligible for Government or local council funding. If funding is available it may be spent on whatever type of care is deemed best by the care receiver or their family.

At Country Cousins, we offer a simple, three-tired approach to our care services. Our live-in care options are;

• Standard live-in care (for individuals or couples)
• Advanced live-in care (for individuals or couples with complex needs)
• Night support (24-hour care)

If you’d like more information on our pricing, please contact us directly or send an email to info@country-cousins.co.uk.

How to Arrange 24 Hour Care

While exploring 24-hour care options can be confusing and stressful Country Cousins is here to help make the process easy and worry-free. Simply get in touch with one of our experienced team today on 01293 224706 to discuss your live-in home care needs and receive a free, no-obligation quotation, or make an enquiry online.

County Cousins is the UK’s longest-serving introductory live-in care agency and has been providing compassionate care to people in their own homes since 1959. With over 60 years of experience and more than 1,500 carers on our books, we know that we will find you or your loved ones the perfect carer. Contact us today to find out how.