If you’ve ever wondered whether the best path for you or your loved one is in-home care or nursing home care, then read on to find out the main differences and benefits of Home Health Care or Nursing Home care in north London.
Ana-nursing, providing Home care in north London
What’s the difference between in-home care and a care home?
Home care means that fully qualified and checked carers come to your home to help you or someone you know with a range to day to day activities from medication and personal support to housekeeping and administration like paying household bills and personal banking, with a variety of home care options including nursing care, domiciliary, live in and personal care.
Moving to a nursing home however means that you’ll live in a residential home and receive round the clock care as well as all meals and cleaning carried out on your behalf. A nursing home will often also provide a calendar of social events and outings. If you’re someone who wants more independence and want to stay in the comfort of their own home, with independent living, in-home care is probably ideal.
Loneliness
Loneliness can be a big issue for elderly people, as well as for people living alone with a disability. Both in-home care and living in a nursing home can alleviate the problems of loneliness. However, living in a nursing home can reduce loneliness by a significant amount more. Choosing which is right for you in this sense will depend on how much contact you have with other people and how many social engagements you are able to attend in your day to day life.
Flexibility
Home care offers clients complete flexibility as they can call on help as much or as little as they need. Those suffering from a long term condition know to what extent they have good weeks and bad weeks, and flexible in-home care allows you to be more independent during those better weeks. Resident nursing care involves committing to a certain care home, but home care allows more flexibility and if you’re not happy with the services of a specific carer or provider, it’s easy to change to another. Home care offers you, as the client, more control over the care you receive in comparison to a nursing home.
Personal safety
You or your loved one’s personal safety and vulnerability is lessened with both of these options, although at a nursing home your overall safety is arguably higher. An in-home carer on the other hand can improve your safety in respect of the fact that regular visits mean that someone is checking on you, plus they can help with looking into making your home more secure, more fire safe, fall-proof and also help you think about what you need in terms of home adjustments.
Home care is a great option for those who don’t want to feel like a burden to friends and family and who still have a good level of independent living. With home care you get to live in your own home and the amount you need to contribute towards it isn’t affected by the value of your house. However, the cost of residential nursing care is significantly higher than that of occasional or even regular home care.
If you would like to know more about the differences between nursing home and in home care services.
References:
https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/articles/care-home-or-home-care
http://www.ageuk.org.uk/home-and-care/help-at-home/
http://www.nhs.uk/Conditions/social-care-and-support-guide/Pages/care-homes.aspx