What Is domiciliary care?
Learn more about what home care means
At Home Instead, our aim is to help people age positively and in place, which means bringing expert care to them at home. This helps them to live independently and enjoy a stimulating life where they’re most comfortable.
For nearly 20 years, we have been providing the highest standard of care, and creating industry-leading training programmes for our Care Professionals that are accredited by nursing and medical professionals. Today, we are the world’s largest global domiciliary care network, supporting over 100,000 seniors with personalised, tailored care at home. So, whatever questions you have about home care, Home Instead can help.
What is domiciliary care?
The term ‘domiciliary’ means anything concerning someone’s home, so domiciliary care refers to the care someone can receive in their own home, as opposed to in a hospital, assisted living facility, or nursing home. Domiciliary care is an important service that supports individuals who need a helping hand with their daily living activities, but are not yet ready to move to an assisted living facility or nursing home. Domiciliary care allows those individuals to remain in the comfort and familiarity of their own house or the house of a loved one, and continue their independence while receiving the required care from professionals. A trained professional can visit them to help with things like personal hygiene, meal assistance, companionship, medication management and more.
Who can benefit from domiciliary care?
Lots of different types of people can benefit from at-home care, but it can be particularly helpful for the likes of older adults, individuals with disabilities, or anyone recovering from an illness or surgery. This might include anyone with mobility, health or cognitive issues that require them to avoid things like excessive movement, strenuous activities, or remembering to carry out certain tasks – like taking medication at specific times, or turning off appliances. In other cases, home care can simply be light-touch support or providing weekly company so an elderly individual can remain at home, stay connected to their community, and never feel lonely. Domiciliary care can be invaluable in order to maintain a sense of independence and positive quality of life. Not only does it allow the individual to feel in control of their own life, it enables their family to effectively manage their own responsibilities while safe in the knowledge that the wellbeing of their loved one is in good hands.
What types of domiciliary care are there?
There are a number of at-home care services, which might include things like:
- Personal care: Simple home help with daily activities like bathing, getting dressed and personal grooming
- Medical care: Medical professionals (such as registered nurses) for things like administering appropriate treatments or managing a medication schedule
- Companion care: Regular check-ins to combat loneliness, provide emotional support, and assist with social activities
- Respite care: Temporary care to relieve families and loved ones for a short time
- Dementia care: Care for those with dementia conditions to ensure they remain safe and comfortable at home
- Live-in care: Round-the-clock assistance from a professional who stays at the home, for individuals with more extensive care needs
- Shared Lives: Care that supports individuals with additional needs (for example, adults with learning disabilities) that struggle to live on their own. A Shared Lives carer may integrate the individual with their family while providing appropriate care
- Palliative care: Covers both long term support and care for those with life changing conditions, as well as end-of-life care to provide comfort, pain management if needed, and offer emotional support to anyone with a terminal illness
As often as possible, people who require additional help should be offered the best care option for their circumstances that doesn’t diminish their current independence, but also doesn’t leave them with unmet needs. Domiciliary care is a great way to achieve this goal.
What types of domiciliary care does Home Instead provide?
At Home Instead, we understand there’s no place like home, so our home visits aim to help older individuals retain independence and stay in familiar surroundings. Here is a brief overview of some of the services we provide:
Studies have shown that older adults who receive peer companionship see an improvement in symptoms of depression and anxiety, and our experienced Home Instead Care Professionals can provide companionship in the comfort of your own home, in order to keep you or your loved one active and social.
Our Home Help services include general household activities such as laundry, dusting, vacuuming, putting the bins out, ironing or feeding family pets. Your Care Professional will take time to get to know just how you like things to be so you never need to worry about the housework. Also, this can free up your loved ones’ time, enabling them to prioritise spending quality time with you in your home, and enjoy taking part in activities together.
Our Personal Care services ensure the necessary support for basic needs such as bathing or dressing can be met within the home, and maintain a focus on preserving independence, routines and dignity as much as possible.
We understand the importance of feeling safe and supported at home no matter the time of day or night. Our experienced and dedicated Care Professionals provide tailored care during the night as a sleep-in service or a waking night service to help with overnight necessities like administering medication or helping reach the bathroom. It may be that you simply want the peace of mind of knowing someone is in your home should they be needed.
Whatever support you require, our experienced Care Professionals will share in the interests of you or your loved one, and provide help accessing enjoyable activities from home, whether that’s crafting, going for a walk, playing games or listening to music. You may only want a few hours or a full day of support, so we will match you with a Care Professional who can become a trusted companion and enable you or your loved one to continue living a fulfilled, active life in the home you love.
Families of individuals who require constant care can find it hard to manage other life responsibilities, and may struggle with feelings of guilt about leaving their loved one. However, there is evidence to suggest the benefits of respite care for everyone from carers to patients, so our Care Professionals can provide care and companionship within the home, allowing you to manage your own responsibilities, attend an appointment or special occasion, or just recharge your batteries. Remember, your wellbeing is important too, and can diminish with the regular demands of caring. Our Respite Care allows you to feel confident that your loved one is well cared for in their home.
Our Care Professionals can help manage issues at home before they become serious by liaising with healthcare teams to address problems early, such as blood pressure and oxygen monitoring. We also support the return home from hospital, or manage hospital discharge with postoperative and recovery care.
Our Care Professionals can help manage issues at home before they become serious by liaising with healthcare teams to address problems early, such as blood pressure and oxygen monitoring. We also support the return home from hospital, or manage hospital discharge with postoperative and recovery car
Caring for someone with dementia takes a physical, emotional and mental toll. We know how challenging it can be, but our experience allows us to provide effective, compassionate and dignified dementia care at home so your loved one can feel calm and content, and retain as much independence as possible. Studies suggest that family caregivers are most concerned with providing a companion for their loved one for emotional support, but our Care Professionals can provide the whole package with a unique programme accredited by City & Guilds that is specialised for the home care environment.
Following a cancer diagnosis, life can be extremely challenging for all involved, so our experienced Care Professionals can support you with a range of adaptable care services that meet your needs within your own home as the treatment changes. By working with clinical teams and tailoring home care to suit you, we can ensure you get better rest at home, nutritious home-cooked meals, emotional support, less exposure to germs, and reduced stress to better support your treatment.
We are official partners of Parkinson’s UK, and can provide all the support you or your loved one needs to live well at home. Our specialist Care Professionals are fully qualified to care for people living with Parkinson’s at every stage, and we provide flexible, personalised home care based on your specific requirements. We work with community health teams and other medical professionals to enhance independence within the home environment, and potentially reduce health complications and hospital admissions.
Our Care Professionals are the best of the best, and highly trained to deliver the services you need. Plus, during our selection process, we look for people who enjoy similar interests so we can find the right person to support you. No matter what type of home care you are looking for, we can provide a tailored service that suits you or your loved one.
The above is a brief overview of the services we provide, but if you would like to learn more about anything we do, feel free to reach out to our friendly Home Instead team.
We’re an award-winning home care provider and part of a worldwide organisation devoted to providing the highest quality relationship-led care for older people in their own homes. Arranging care for yourself or your loved one shouldn’t be stressful, so whatever questions you would like answered, feel free to reach out to the Home Instead team to discuss your needs.