Live In Care Options - Choosing A Care Level That Suits You

Live-in Care Options

Choose a care level that suits you best

There are two types of live-in home care: full management and introductory. Which one you choose is down to you and your needs. Here are the main differences between the two.

When it comes to full management, clients and families needn’t worry about a thing. Here, the provider hires and trains its own carers directly, overseeing every aspect of care, both long-term and day-to-day. This includes early risk assessment and client-carer matching, to personalised care plans, staff rotas and admin such as salary, holiday pay and so on. With oversight, reviews and 24/7 support, clients decide how much of a managed service they’d prefer. It’s the ideal option for families juggling lots of other demands or those who don’t want to worry about coordinating GP appointments and other everyday tasks.

Our full management care providers are all regulated in England by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the independent body that inspects and maintains standards within the industry. There are equivalent bodies responsible for service regulation in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They are: Social Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS), The Care and Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) and for Northern Ireland: The Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA). All are committed to making sure our providers are safe, caring, responsive, effective and well run.

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Introductory agencies have pools of the very finest self-employed 24/7 carers on their books for clients to choose from. Meticulous recruitment processes ensure that their carers are all expertly trained, with a myriad of appropriate qualifications and experience to match the individual needs of those they care for. Each agency has their own selection criteria for carers registering with them and all have stringent vetting of references and regularly update criminal record and associated checks. Considerable efforts are made to get to know all their carers personally and to ensure the agencies are well placed to introduce live-in carers who are right for you. Once in placement, the agency will be in regular, on-going contact with the client and or their family, as well as the carer, to ensure you are happy with the service being provided.

Agencies work hard to ensure high levels of continuity of care, seamlessly managing the changeover of one carer to the next as and when needed and their role is very much to manage this transition to ensure no client is left without a carer at any time. The agencies are able to establish packages of care with typically 2 or 3 carers rotating through the year to ensure true continuity.

In most cases the client pays the carer directly for their services and the agency will invoice for the recruitment, vetting, registration and introduction of your chosen carer. Agencies that introduce carers are not regulated by the CQC, although those that also provide live-in nurses are regulated for that service. Regulated or not, the agencies we list here are run and managed by experts in their field and have stringent policies and procedures that often exceed the CQC’s standards.

Available to you 24/7 the agencies are on hand should you need them and assure you of their best attention at all times. Whilst this model of live-in care is ideal for family who are keen and able to be more involved in the care of their loved one, it also suits those who are unable to do so as the agencies closely monitor whether their clients remain happy on a continuing basis.

Find a Care Provider

All the care providers listed on this website, offer full management or introductory models (some offer both options), and exactly how they deliver those options naturally varies slightly from company to company. You can read more about our providers on their individual profile pages here.

While not all agencies offer qualified nursing, nursing care can still be arranged through either introductory or full management agencies. For complete peace of mind, each and every care provider on the Hub is a member of the UKHCA (United Kingdom Home Care Association). The UKHCA is a voluntary, not-for-profit organisation that represents any company providing social care, nursing or support to people in their own homes. To be a member, each provider must work to a strict code of conduct and deliver the very best care.