As seniors age, family members think of opting for elderly care for their loved one so that they are cared for and looked after well. Thus, when choosing U.K. elderly companionship services for your elderly loved one, you may come across various types of care out there.
One of the most common types of elderly care you will come across is Companion Care and Hands-On Care.
Thus, this article is going to discuss these two types of elderly care. Their differences, and when such care is more appropriate for your loved one.
What is Companion Care?
Companion Care is a type of elderly care that is aimed at improving and providing social interaction and companionship to the elderly.
As humans, we are in need of human interaction and socialization. And if we are deprived of it, we can end up feeling lonely or isolated. This isn’t any different in the case of the elderly.
In fact, seniors are more at risk of loneliness and isolation than any other age group. Therefore, such loneliness and isolation could have a negative impact on the overall well-being of the elderly. And can also lead to diseases, such as heart diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, and many more.
Now, this loneliness can be due to various different reasons, such as family moving out which results in the elderly ending up alone, the death of a spouse, and so on. Because of such reasons, seniors withdraw themselves from society and social interactions and lose interest in things that used to excite them in the past.
Therefore, this is when Companion Care comes in.
Companion Care
A companion carer helps to maintain, and even improve, the link between the senior and the society. They do this by taking care of the elderly’s needs, as well as providing emotional companionship to them.
Apart from providing companionship to the elderly. Most caregivers also provide other services to the elderly such as light daily housekeeping errands. Planning and preparing meals according to the elderly’s nutritional needs, laundry, cleaning, and organizing the elderly’s clothes. Taking care of the elderly’s personal grooming, and so on.
However, if we talk about the caregiver providing companionship to the elderly, they might do this by conversing and interacting with the senior, watching TV with them. Playing cards or bingo, taking them outside for strolls and doing practically anything that the senior would enjoy or take interest in.
Therefore, this way, the senior is less at risk for loneliness and isolation as they now have a companion next to them who not only provides physical care to them but also takes care of their emotional well-being.
What is Hands-On Care?
Hand-on care is a type of elderly care aimed at those seniors who need help in their everyday tasks. Basically, this type of care involves physically touching the elderly in order to provide care, hence the name.
As seniors age, they need more and more assistance with even simple tasks. Therefore, this is when a hands-on carer comes in, and provides numerous services to the elderly. Some of these services include:
- Personal Care, which includes basic grooming, such as bathing, brushing their teeth, shaving, changing clothes, cosmetics, etc.
- Providing assistance for bathroom visits
- Helping them move around
- Changing their colostomy or catheter bags
- Daily light housekeeping tasks
- Planning and preparing meals
- Medical assistance
Therefore, hands-on caregivers provide basically all services a companion care giver would, in addition to medical assistance or services.
Now, the reason for this difference is due to the formal training that hands-on caregivers have to receive in order to provide the elderly with medical care.
Some of these hands-on caregivers would also have medical or nursing certifications through which they are approved of providing medical assistance to their seniors.
What kind of care is best for my elderly loved one?
Now, knowing the difference between these two common types of elderly care. You might be wondering which care is most appropriate for your elderly loved one.
Well, the final decision of what type of care you opt for will depend entirely upon the type of assistance and care your elderly loved one requires.
For instance, are they suffering from specific illnesses or diseases?
Do they only need assistance with everyday simple tasks, as well as a companion to eliminate their loneliness?
If your loved one is suffering from illnesses or diseases, then you must opt for hands-on care. This is because hands-on caregivers have the knowledge of specific diseases. As they are mostly specialized in areas of specific diseases and are also licensed to provide medical care to seniors. Therefore, this is when hands-on care would be most appropriate.
However, if we talk about the latter example, then companion care would be more suitable for your elderly loved one. This is because such individuals are not suffering from any sickness. And only need help with their everyday tasks and need to be looked out for, physically and emotionally.
However, before making a final decision, it is crucial to talk to your senior loved one and take their opinion as well. Moreover, you should also definitely opt for discussing this with a senior care provider in order to determine which option is best and most suited for your loved one.
Cost Comparison
Now, let’s take a look at the costs of these two types of companion care.
If we talk about companion care, then the average cost of a live-in companion caregiver will cost you anywhere between £44, 000 to £54,600 for a single year, that too for full-time 1-to-1 care.
Thus, this cost is going to cost you approximately £120 to £150 for a single day. However, the ultimate cost will depend on the number of days each week an elderly, may require companion care as well as how many hours each day.
On the other hand, hands-on care costs around between £100 and £140 gross per day. Now, this price is going to vary according to the illness or disease severity of your elderly loved one, how many days each week they require help. As well as the number of certifications or experience of the caregiver.