TYPES OF CARE
Residential care
Many residential facilities are designed for elderly people who do not need 24-hour nursing care but are unable to live independently. Such Care Homes may be described as Retirement Homes, Extra Care Facilities or Respite Centres. They typically provide a furnished or unfurnished room, together with all meals and housekeeping and laundry service. Depending on the needs of the resident they also provide care and support with daily activities such as personal hygiene, medication administration, dressing, eating, and daily living and activities. They are not considered to be medical facilities, but they do have to meet national regulations for care.
Nursing Care
Nursing Homes or skilled nursing facilities, are intended for people who need ongoing medical care as well as help with daily activities. Typically there will be qualified nursing staff available 24 hours per day. People who are living with complex medical issues where a trained, qualified nurse will be required to administer medications. These homes will follow the same regulations as Residential care homes, however have extra regulations to comply with in order to adhere to the correct medical standards and codes of practice. These homes tend to cost more for private funders, however maybe entitled to elements of the care paid for by the NHS.
Dementia Care & Specialist care
May be Dementia residential, Dementia Nursing or challenging behaviour units. Also included are specialist centres for mental health, learning disabilities. Again these placements typically cost more due to the extra staffing costs and training required however, some elements of the care maybe funded in part by the NHS or local council
Domiciliary care, sometimes called home care
An alternative to residential and nursing care. Domiciliary care enables those with varying care needs (through illness, long-term medical issues or old age) to remain in their own home indefinitely or for a longer period of time than was previously possible. Home care can be offered in several capacities – and the intensity and frequency of visits will depend on individual circumstances and care needs.
The main advantage of homecare is that it is carried out in a person’s own home, eliminating the need for them to spend large amounts of time in a hospital and enabling them to stay in their own home indefinitely, if not for a longer period of time than would usually have been possible before domiciliary care was an option.
Domiciliary care for elderly people can be either on a short term basis, where a carer may come to your home for up to an hour up to a carer living with you 24 hours per day. This is known as live-in care and is increasingly becoming an option for people that do not want to go into a care home but want the comfort of having someone on hand to help them
