Nursing Care

If someone in your family needs regular nursing care, their doctor may be able to arrange for a community or district nurse to visit them at home. This will not, of course, be a sleeping-in arrangement but simply involves a qualified nurse calling round when necessary. If you want more concentrated home nursing you will have to go through a private agency. 

Consultus can sometimes supply trained nurses. Additionally, there are many specialist agencies that can arrange hourly, daily or living-in nurses on a temporary or longer-term basis. Terms of employment vary considerably. Some nurses will literally undertake nursing duties only – and nothing else; and may even expect to have their meals provided. Others will do light housework and act as nurse companions. 

Fees vary throughout the country, with London inevitably being most expensive. Private health insurance can sometimes be claimed against part of the cost, but this is generally only in respect of qualified nurses. Your local health centre or social services department should be able to give you names and addresses of local agencies. 

There may come a time when you feel that it is no longer safe to live entirely on your own. One possibility is to engage a companion or housekeeper on a permanent basis but such arrangements are normally very expensive. Permanent help can also sometimes be provided by agencies (such as those listed under ‘Temporary living-in help’), who will supply continuous four-weekly placements. 

This is an expensive option and the lack of continuity can at times be distressing for elderly people, particularly at the change-over point. But it can also lead to a happier atmosphere as the housekeeper comes fresh to the job and neither party has time to start getting on each other’s nerves.