There is no place like home - being in familiar surroundings, with your treasures around you can be reassuring. Being at home can also be scary if you feel isolated, unsafe, or you are finding the responsibility of your home is getting too much. Most of these issues and concerns can be overcome with the right support.
There is often more than one way to meet your needs, so knowing what matters to you will help you decide on what is right for you.
If you have had an assessment from your local council, your assessor will help you put together a care and support plan and they will advise you which parts of the plan can be provided by the local council.
There is a wide range of services and support available, such as homecare, day centres, meals services, sitting services, equipment and adaptations. However, you don’t have to be constrained by these traditional services. You can ask your assessor about a direct payment which is money provided by the local council for you to buy the support/services in your care and support plan.
If you prefer not to go through your local council, you will need to arrange your care and support yourself or ask your family/friends to help you.
Most of the time, Plan with Care would suggest that you stay in the comfort of your own home, and adjust the care and support packages to meet your needs and ensure you can still live life to the full at home. However, there are cases where living in a Care Home is actually the better option.
We have one client who has moved into a Care Home having the care he needs at home caused too much distress - he simply could not understand what all these 'strangers' were doing in his house. Once in a Care Home, he was completely accepting of the help of his carers because this new environment, it made sense to him. He flourished.
Another client has been adamant that she wants to stay at home as long as possible, and naturally we agreed. Plan with Care have organised regular companionship, a gardener and cleaner, medical professionals and so on, in order to make this manageable. But what is emerging is that the Lady has extremely high levels of anxiety around money management. Having so many different appointments with cheques to write is causing perhaps more anxiety and exhaustion than is worth it for her. She is also still feeling lonely and while she would love to spend more time with her Companion, she is reluctant to pay for it. Living in a Care Home would significantly reduce the number of decisions she would need to make about her care needs, while also increasing her social circle and the number of accessible activities. We are now exploring these pros and cons and for the first time she is feeling that Care Home life may well be preferable.
Learn more about Direct Payments here