When someone first starts to need help at home, it can be difficult to know how much care to arrange. They may only need a little support with certain tasks, while family members are still able to help with everything else.
As time goes on, their needs may change. They might need more help getting dressed, preparing meals or moving around the house, or simply benefit from having someone visit more often.
The good news is that home care doesn’t have to stay at the same level. A care package can be reviewed as circumstances change, so support can increase when it’s needed.
Can home care increase as needs change?
Home care is designed to be flexible, so the amount and type of support can change as someone’s circumstances develop.
Someone might start with a single visit each week for companionship or help with household tasks. Later, they may need a morning and evening visit to help with personal care, meals or medication.
Trinity’s care plans are regularly reviewed and can be adapted when a person’s needs change. This might mean increasing the number of visits, changing what happens during each visit or introducing a different type of support.
This flexibility can be particularly useful for families who want to introduce care gradually rather than making major changes all at once.
What might cause someone to need more care?
Care needs can change for many reasons. Sometimes the change is gradual and becomes noticeable over several months. At other times, an illness, fall or hospital stay can mean someone suddenly needs more help.
You might notice that your loved one is:
- Finding personal care more difficult
- Struggling to prepare meals or eat regularly
- Becoming less steady on their feet
- Forgetting medication or appointments
- Finding household tasks increasingly difficult
- Spending more time alone
- Becoming less confident going out
- Needing more help at particular times of day
- Recovering from an illness or hospital stay
- Finding that a condition such as dementia is affecting their daily routine
A change in one area doesn’t necessarily mean that someone needs significantly more care. It’s about looking at what has changed and whether the existing arrangement is still providing the right level of support.
How can visiting care be increased?
Visiting care can often be adjusted in relatively small steps. For example, someone might initially have a carer visit once or twice a week. As their needs change, this could increase to daily visits or several visits throughout the day.
The content of the visits can change too. A carer might initially provide companionship and help with shopping, then later support with washing and dressing, meal preparation, mobility or medication prompts.
Trinity offers visiting care from as little as one visit a week through to multiple visits each day, depending on the support someone needs.
This means care can grow around your loved one’s routine rather than requiring them to make a sudden change to the way they live.
What if my loved one needs more support than visiting care can provide?
There can come a point when several visits a day no longer provide enough support.
Perhaps your loved one is becoming less safe when they’re alone, needs more frequent assistance or would benefit from having someone around for much of the day.
This is where live-in care can become an option.
With live-in care, a carer lives in the home and provides one-to-one support around your loved one’s daily routine. It can be particularly helpful when needs have become more extensive or when regular visits leave long periods without support.
The move from visiting care to live-in care doesn’t mean that something has gone wrong. It can simply be the next step when someone’s circumstances have changed.
Can care increase temporarily?
Not every increase in care needs to be permanent.
Someone recovering after an operation, illness or hospital stay may need more support for a period while they regain their strength and confidence.
Reablement care can provide short-term support following illness or a hospital stay, with the aim of helping someone regain independence where possible. Trinity also provides respite care when families or existing carers need additional support for a period.
Once someone has recovered, their care package can be reviewed again. They may return to a lower level of support if they are able to manage more independently.
Who decides when care needs to increase?
It shouldn’t be left to one person to make the decision alone.
Your loved one should be involved wherever possible, alongside family members and the care team. Their care needs assessment and ongoing reviews provide an opportunity to look at what’s working, what’s becoming difficult and whether anything needs to change.
At Trinity, Care Managers review clients regularly and can arrange additional reviews when there is a change in care needs or circumstances.
Changes might include increasing visits, adjusting daily routines, introducing specialist support or considering live-in care.
The aim is to make changes at the right time, rather than waiting until the existing arrangement becomes difficult to manage.
What happens if care needs increase suddenly?
Sometimes there isn’t time for a gradual increase. A fall, hospital discharge or sudden change in health can mean your loved one needs considerably more support than they did before.
In these situations, it’s important to have a care provider that can respond quickly and assess what is needed. Trinity says its emergency care service can provide fast, reliable support at home within 24 hours in urgent situations, subject to assessment and availability.
A sudden change doesn’t automatically mean someone needs to leave their home. With the right assessment and support, care can sometimes be increased around them instead.
Does increasing home care mean losing independence?
Not necessarily. In fact, the right amount of care can help someone remain independent for longer.
A carer might help with the tasks that have become difficult while encouraging your loved one to continue doing the things they can manage themselves. That could mean preparing a meal together rather than taking over completely, or providing support with getting out of the house rather than discouraging activities.
The goal is not to do everything for someone. It’s to provide enough help for them to continue living safely and comfortably at home.
What happens when care needs become more complex?
As needs develop, the type of care may need to change as well as the number of visits.
Someone with dementia, Parkinson’s, mobility difficulties or more complex health needs may require carers with particular experience or training.
Trinity provides specialist and complex care at home, with support that can combine visiting and live-in care depending on what the person needs. Its care plans can include physical, clinical, cognitive and social needs and are adjusted as circumstances change.
This means increasing care isn’t simply about adding more hours. Sometimes it’s about making sure the right kind of support is in place.
How Trinity adapts care as your loved one’s needs change
Before care starts, Trinity carries out a care needs assessment to understand your loved one’s circumstances, preferences and daily routine. This forms the basis of their care plan.
That plan isn’t set in stone. As needs change, it can be reviewed and amended to reflect what your loved one needs now.
This might mean:
- Increasing the number of visiting care calls
- Changing the tasks carried out during visits
- Introducing specialist care
- Adding overnight support
- Moving from visiting care to live-in care
- Combining different types of support
Trinity’s care management team remains involved, helping families review arrangements and make changes when they’re needed.
Planning ahead can make changes easier
It can be tempting to wait until care becomes essential before thinking about what might happen next.
But having an idea of how care could increase can make future decisions feel less daunting. You can discuss what might happen if your loved one’s mobility changes, if they need more help at night or if a condition progresses.
It also means you’re not starting from scratch if circumstances change.
A good home care arrangement should be able to adapt with your loved one, providing more support when it’s needed and less when it’s no longer necessary.
The right care can change with your loved one
If you’re noticing that your loved one’s current care is no longer quite enough, Trinity Homecare can help you understand what the next step could look like. Call us on 0207 183 4884 in confidence for a free, no-obligation quotation. If you’re contacting us outside our opening hours, simply complete our online enquiry form and we’ll get back to you the next day.
