Finding Private Care at Home

Finding Good Private Care at Home

Private care at home for the elderly:

With age, the functional capabilities of a person get reduced and the simplest tasks become a challenge. People often become incapable of caring for themselves. Naturally, many opt for hospitals or nursing homes to find the care they cannot give themselves. Another preferred solution is private care at home. There are now numerous private care at home services in Fife and Edinburgh who provide home care or domiciliary care to the elderly. 

Why do the elderly need private care at home?

Surveys confirm that most of the elderly wish to stay in their homes as long as they can. A familiar environment most often takes away the stress of having to pay agencies and professionals to take care of them. Living at home also gives them a certain freedom and independence that a nursing home or hospital could never. Care at home provides these elderly members of our community with non-medical care, health care or companionship. Private care is much more affordable than nursing homes or the hospital.

Elderly Care at Home services:

Private care at home is most successful when it is tailored to an individual’s needs. Most private care agencies provide a wide range of services, which include:

1. Offering companionship.
2. Providing transportation.
3. Monitoring heart pressure and checking blood pressure levels.
4. Providing personal care.
5. Making meals, doing housework, running errands.
6. Caring for wounds and injuries and following the prescribed medication.
7. Providing catheter, and stoma care.

Things to consider while opting for private care:

There are several criteria that should be considered to help focus in on the right choice among the many agencies and individual services –

1. Medical needs– A personal caregiver must be qualified to provide the services a particular client requires. The health problems and conditions of the person who requires care have to be kept to the forefront.
2. Accessing the kind of care that is needed– It is not just medical needs that an elderly person has. Every person has a basic list of daily activities that may range from personal hygiene to shopping to mobility, which has to be considered while choosing the homecare.
3. The budget- the budget decides the quality or quantity of care that can be provided on a daily basis.

Choosing the right private care:

When there are so many options to choose from, selecting the right person or agency may be a tough task. Here are a couple of steps to follow to find the perfect fit:

1. Get references and referrals from friends and family, people that can be trusted. 
2. Meet the potential carers and assess how well they suit your needs.
3. Find out what level of experience and training the care staff have and check all background checks have been carried out. 
4. Check out the availability of the care company and check if they provide care cover for holidays and vacations.

Oran Homecare provides private care in Fife and Midlothian.