Domiciliary care, also known as home care, is a support service for people who need help to live in their own homes. It enables them to keep their independence and improve their quality of life through essential support, like personal care and household chores.
Domiciliary means ‘concerned with or occurring in someone’s home’ (Oxford Dictionary).
Domiciliary care began in the 1800s when district nurses would visit patients at home. More recently, the NHS and Community Care Act of 1990 gave local authorities responsibility for community care. The act emphasised the importance of care assessments and prioritised care at home whenever possible.
Modern day domiciliary care provides care at home, reducing the strain on hospitals and providing an alternative to nursing homes.
Common domiciliary care services
As part of our domiciliary care service, you will have a tailored package to help you with the things you need most. These can include:
- Personal care – assistance with bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting, etc. We train our care team to handle these aspects of daily life with empathy and dignity.
- Mobility assistance – help getting up and moving around the home or accessing outside spaces and the local community.
- Household chores – light housework can include cooking meals, cleaning living spaces, making beds, doing laundry, etc.
- Health and medication management – accompanying you to medical appointments, collecting prescriptions, and managing dosage and frequency of medications.
- Befriending and companionship – our care team can come alongside you and keep you company while you go about your daily life, assisting you when necessary.
The benefits of domiciliary care
Jothno Care & Support provide culturally appropriate care to south Asian families living in London and elsewhere in the UK.
We will match carers to the family, whoever they are. The carers have the appropriate language skills and understanding of the culture of the client. We have care teams working with Asian, English and Arabic families.
By matching carers to service users, we are able to provide a familiar environment to the user which reduces confusion and feels like a family. We can support family values and traditions for example by accompanying the user to the mosque for prayer or attending cultural events in the local community.
Food is an important aspect of some religious and cultural traditions and Jothno Care & Support will make sure that culturally appropriate food is served.
Families choose Jothno Care & Support for our cultural sensitivity, language support and personalised care plans. Our clients call us a ‘safe pair of hands’ and speak of the relief of finding someone to support their family and their loved ones. They are also pleased with the improvement in quality of life and happiness that receiving the right support brings.
Funding domiciliary care
Families can apply for funding from the social care system or they can privately fund care. The local council can help with payments towards care provision and Jothno Care & Support work with councils across London to coordinate care.
Domiciliary care can be arranged for as little as a few hours a week and as much as full time, 24/7 live in care where continuous monitoring is needed. Care provision starts with a phone call or meeting. We will then assess the care that is required. Care can be put into place quickly when needed for emergency cover.
Balancing family care with professional support
We work together with the whole family when we provide domiciliary care. Families have often been providing care for a long time before they reach out to professional support and they want to be involved in the process. We make sure that we take into account both the family and the service user’s desires.
Respite care is often the first step in accessing domiciliary care. We can provide family caregivers with a few hours, a few days or a few weeks break from caring. This gives them the opportunity to rest and return when they are ready to resume care.
There is no shame in reaching out for professional support. Our care teams are trained to help with the emotional help required when transitioning to using a care agency to provide care.
Domiciliary care can support an individual so that they are able to stay at home in their familiar environment. This may be preferable to having to move into a formal nursing home environment. It provides a good option for families who want to ensure their parents or grandparents are safe, particularly when they do not live nearby or they live alone.
What is domiciliary care?
Domiciliary care provides practical help for everyday life. It can include personal care, mobility assistance, household chores, medication management, befriending and companionship.
Our domiciliary care service incorporates cultural sensitivity and awareness. We match care teams to the family to provide carers with the right language and culture for the situation. Carers will assimilate family values and traditions into their routine.
We tailor our care packages to include appropriate care for the individual and their family. And we take into consideration both the service user and the families requirements. We are sensitive to the emotions surrounding the use of professional carers, particularly for some cultures, and our teams are empathetic and supportive.
Our care team is happy to discuss your needs over the phone or in a meeting. Call head office on 020 4548 9300 or fill in the self referral form below.