Complete guide to short-term care

Following a stay in hospital – for surgery, injury or treatment – you’re generally entitled to six weeks of free care, whether it’s provided by the NHS or your local authority. Before your discharge from this period of care you’ll have a care and support assessment to find out whether longer term care is advised.

When having a care assessment, it is important that you or your loved one express your desire for live-in care. This is critical to securing funding if necessary and ensuring your preferences are met.

Short-term live-in care from Joyful Care is delivered by a skilled social carer, who you’re matched with based on needs and personality. Live-in carers are experienced in supporting people with wellbeing, domestic duties, personal care and mobility.

Joyful Care live-in carers are used to working with multiple teams to ensure your wellbeing and recovery – supporting occupational therapists, GPs, community nurses and social workers to ensure all complex care needs are met.

It’s not only after a hospital  stay where short-term care may be needed. Other short-term care scenarios can include:

• Respite care when the primary carer, who may be a loved one, needs a break to go on vacation or recharge
• Following short-term illness or a fall
• A period of care while a family waits for the outcome of a care needs assessment or means test

Short-term live-in care

Whether you need care for just a few days, or a few weeks,

we’ll connect you to a qualified live-in carer, you can trust to care the way you would.

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When is short-term care needed?

There are a variety of scenarios where a person may need short-term care. It’s an incredibly flexible service available to support with a variety of circumstances people can find themselves in.

Support discharge from hospital

Convalescent care is one of the most common types of short-term care and is received following a stay in hospital. To make sure people can be discharged on time and to reduce the chances of readmission, short-term care is used to support recovery.

Short-term care following a hospital stay can help people get back on their feet by having someone there to do daily errands, support with personal care and offer the peace of mind of another pair of eyes should your loved one need medical assistance.

Support recovery from illness

Similarly, short-term care can assist people in their recovery from an illness or fall. Having support at home to complete daily tasks such as laundry, cooking, cleaning and running errands as well as assistance with personal care can help ensure recovery isn’t compromised.

An alternative to hospital or care home admission

Having short-term live-in care can help to avoid hospital admission and readmission following illness or surgery. Having someone at hand to assist with daily tasks means you or your loved one can focus on recovering and not risk injury or relapse.

Short-term live-in care can also provide an alternative to short-term care home admission for convalescent or respite care.

To support end-of-life care

Short-term care can sometimes be appropriate to help with meeting certain goals in a short space of time, such as getting the home environment and routine established for at home palliative care or helping the family to develop specific skills needed for care at home.

Respite care

If a family member or loved one is the primary carer, they will need to take breaks to look after their own wellbeing, go on vacation or for illness. When this happens, it can be stressful for the care recipient to enter into a care home for a short period.

Short-term live-in care can provide respite for the primary carer, helping to provide support and care whilst they take a break.

As well as providing respite, short-term care can also be appropriate in several other cases. For example, some families may choose to experience short-term live-in care as a means of understanding whether long-term live-in care is for them.

The benefits of short-term care

One of the main benefits of short-term live-in care is that it provides continuation of care following a hospital stay or during respite care – reducing stress, disruption and logistical challenges.

Being able to stay at home is preferred for many people receiving short-term care – as it prevents the challenge of having to move between locations including hospitals and care homes, which can cause stress.

When it comes to respite care, the primary carer being able to take a break is essential for them to look after themselves and reduce the strain that caring for a loved one can have on their wellbeing.