What is domiciliary care or home care?

When elderly people are assessed 90% percent of people say they want to stay at home. No surprise there! Home is where our memories are, where we are comfortable, where we are the most relaxed. The thought of a care home for many people it’s not appealing, it is not where they want to be.

How will I know when I need care?

There is nothing written down to tell us exactly when people need care.

Graham Wilson from The Homecare People Ltd says that the home care should start when those daily tasks become difficult. Things like putting the socks on, making the bed, putting the bins out etc. For many of us these things are relatively simple but become quite difficult for the elderly. After they managed to do these tasks all their lives it is very difficult for them to accept they need care, plus it has a big psychological impact.

Domiciliary Care can help with that! They can come along and provide simple care, they can put your socks on, make your bed and put your bins out. Domiciliary care staff can help you with your shopping, they can go with you or for you.

There are a lot of things domiciliary care can do, just to take those tasks away and make your life a little bit easier.

Companionship

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Another thing domiciliary care brings is companionship. A cheery face that comes in to talk about the day. ?

An issue that is wide spread in nowadays is that we know more and more elderly people become a little bit isolated. This can happen for various reasons. It might be that their mobility is not as good and they can’t go out to socialise as often.

When do we come in?

We will try to describe the routine of a domiciliary care business.

Domiciliary care staff will come in the morning, will help you get out of bed, help you with washing and dressing, continence care if necessary, make your bed, will give you breakfast and the medicines.

At lunch time staff will pop in to check on you, assist you with lunch, medicines and have a little chat.

At tea time or bed time the domiciliary care staff will do the reverse of the morning, undress you, wash you and getting ready for bed, tuck you in if you like.

Domiciliary care can go beyond that, 1 to 4 calls a day for some people or we can help the carers. The carers might need some support as well so we can do a sitting service for 6 or 8 hours to enable the carer to go out and meet family or do other things. This can be extended to an “over night” service that will enable the main carer to get away, to retain something of their own life and refresh themselves. Being the main carer is difficult and they need a break from time to time.

Can Domiciliary care provide end of life care?

Yes. Domiciliary care can help with that as well. Domiciliary care offers palliative care or end of life care. It is a very difficult time for the family and certainly for the individual. Domiciliary care staff can bring in a sense of control, a sense of steadiness. Domiciliary care can help someone have a comfortable and dignified exit of their life. It is quite a special kind of care, quite complex but some of the Domiciliary care agencies offer this service.

Can Domiciliary care staff administer medication?

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Some of the elderly people visited by domiciliary care staff have a lot of medication prescribed by their GP, more than 10 tablets. Managing medication is something that domiciliary care staff have to rigorously do. They MUST receive medication administration training and they must be assessed as competent to administer all types of medication. The staff have to make sure the service users are getting the right medication at the right time.

Does Domiciliary care offer continence care?

Yes. This is a difficult one. None of us want to believe that we will have that problem. The reality is some of us will. It is a physical thing, and it is something that needs to be handled with dignity. This is again something that the staff should be trained on. It is a very important aspect of care and must be done properly.

Who governs Domiciliary care?

Domiciliary care is overlooked by CQC (Care Quality Commission). CQC is a government body. CQC provide a very thorough set of guidelines and processes that Domiciliary care have to follow. Domiciliary care that don’t follow those guidelines can get into a lot of trouble (business activity can be stopped).

Duty of Candour in Domiciliary care

Same as any business that provides care services, Domiciliary care has the duty to follow the Duty of Candour processes which means they should be transparent and inform you about any mistakes that occurred in your treatment. In fact every care professional must follow the Duty of Candour process. This is a way of admitting a mistake but also apologising for it and fix it if possible.

We would like to offer all the credit for this article to Mr. Graham Wilson from The Homecare People Ltd

Here is a link to the video Mr. Graham Wilson posted on Youtube: What is domiciliary care or home care?

In the video he talks in a way that everybody can understand what domiciliary care is. Thank you!