For Seniors: When daily living tasks start to become difficult and/or dangerous for a senior to do on their own. 

For Family: When you notice your older family members are forgetting personal hygiene or forgetting to take their medication.

For Families of Medically Fragile adults: When care becomes overwhelming for the family members to do on their own or when medical monitoring is necessary.

Domiciliary care is commonly known as domcare, home care, social Care and both are umbrella terms that refer to the different types of care and support that can be provided in your own home.

Domiciliary carers can offer varying levels of care depending on your needs. Different carers will specialise in providing different types and intensities of care on a sliding scale from companionship care, to personal assistant care, to specialist care such as looking after dementia sufferers.

Independence

The biggest advantage to domiciliary care is that it allows your loved one to retain their independence. Even with care as intensive as live in care, it’s the ability to choose when to eat, to drink, and when to bathe that is so important.

Stability

If you choose domiciliary care your loved one can stay in their own home, which allows them to retain a sense of normalcy, and close to friends and family. Keeping your loved one familiar surroundings is especially relevant if they're suffering from memory loss or dementia, as a new environment can cause further confusion and distress. It might be that your loved one is in a fragile state of mind. Old age, accident or injury, or ongoing disease can all cause stress, and being in one’s own home can make things a little easier.

Flexible

The nature of domiciliary care is that it’s fundamentally completely flexible to their needs. This means it can be the perfect solution if their needs will change over time. A good example would be post-hospital care or dementia care, when the health of the patient is changing on an almost day-by-day basis

Affordable

Because domiciliary care is so flexible, you only pay for the care you need, when you need it. Care homes are very black and white: either you’re in, or you’re out. As a general rule, 8 hours or less per day of domiciliary care is less expensive as compare to care home. And if you choose to opt for live-in care, carers charge by the day instead of by the hour and their rates can be very reasonable.

One-on-One

The ratio of staff to residents in care homes is notoriously bad. There are no set guidelines in the UK and care home workers are often overworked and underpaid and can’t give individuals the attention they deserve.

Domiciliary care is the complete opposite – rather than being ‘just a number’, patients are cared for on a completely bespoke, individual basis.

The disadvantages of domiciliary care

Inappropriate facilities

You’re limited to the facilities that already exist in the home. That will often     mean having to make appropriate home modifications. These are generally minor (handrails, ramps) but can become more major depending on the home (doorway widening, stair-lifts).

Sharing your personal space

Although the major advantage of domiciliary care is that you can stay in your home, it does mean allowing a carer into your home. Some people find it difficult to have someone in their home and struggle with the idea of sharing their space.

Saying that, although many people are resistant initially, it’s normal for care workers and patients to strike-up a very close friendship within a short amount of time.

Finding the right carer

A care home can be easy – if space becomes available you simply make an appointment and all the care staff are already on hand. If you’re looking for domiciliary care, you have to find a carer yourself, and this can take a little longer than it would to organise a care home place.

Domiciliary care is right for you if you value independence, stability, affordability, and personalised one-to-one care, but it's not right for everyone.

Yes, for those unusual times when you feel you have an emergency, rest assured. We are on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We have developed an after-hours service that we feel is “second to none” in response time and in providing the services our clients request.

A room to sleep in, bed, meal.

Yes, during the initial visit in your home, the registered nurse will talk with you about your rights, treatment plan, what to do in case of an emergency, and answer any questions you may have.