Palliative care in the
comfort of home
- Comfort and dignity in a familiar environment
- Personalised, one-to-one care
- 24/7 Peace of mind for families
Experts on hand
Support teams available 7 days a week.
Responsive to you
Arrange care in just 24 hours, and pause anytime.
Transparent pricing
No out of hours surcharges, joining or exit fees.
5000+ vetted carers
Choose your own quality assessed professional.
Why choose Elder for palliative care?
A live-in palliative carer provides essential support to the whole family. From personal care and toileting to companionship and housekeeping, our straightforward online process will help you find a carer with the specialist skills and compassion you need. With a flexible service that you control, we’ll help your loved one stay in the comfort of their own home – as opposed to having to move to a hospital, care home or hospice if they don’t need to.
Truly personalised care
Support is shaped around routine, likes and dislikes 98%* of people receiving live-in care say it helps them have a better quality of life.
*Source: The Live in Care Hub
Get peace of mind 24/7
A live-in carer will care the way you do in the moments you can’t be there. They’ll align with health professionals and provide regular updates.
Spend quality time with loved ones
A live-in carer takes the practical caring responsibilities off of family members, allowing you to spend meaningful time with your loved one.
A carer you can count on
Carers are carefully matched on their ability to provide bespoke care, and their personality to support happiness and wellbeing.
What does a live-in palliative carer do?
Live-in caregivers perform a range of domestic and personal care duties to support wellbeing. Exactly what your carer will support with will be bespoke to your care requirements, but common tasks include –
Houskeeping
From vacuuming and sanitising surfaces, to laundry and staying on top of clutter, carers can help keep the house clean and tidy to ensure it’s safe, comfortable and relaxing.
Getting dressed and ready
They'll offer a delicate, reassuring hand to get into clothes and help a person look their best.
Personal care
Carers will provide discreet and sensitive support with intimate tasks such as washing and toileting.
Preparing meals
They'll provide nutritious meals to suit individual tastes and dietary requirements, and ensuring hydration is prioritised.
Emergency response
Being there 24/7 means carers will raise the alarm and get the right medical support at the first sign that something's not right.
Medication prompting
Carers help ensure any medication is taken at the right time, at the right dose (as per the prescription instructions)
Mobility
Carers can help keep older people moving and encourage gentle exercise. They can also ensure any activity advised by a medical professional is followed.
Running errands
From picking up a prescription in the chemist, to doing the weekly food shop, carers can help with a wide range of everyday errands.
Companionship
Carers will be there to listen and chat to, encourage hobbies, and help an older person to maintain an active and fulfilling social life.
Pet care
For pet owners, a carer can help feed, exercise, and clean up after household pets
How it works
Tell us what you need
Give us a call or get started online. We’ll ask you some simple questions about your care needs and preferences, and will begin matching you with carers based on your answers. You’ll receive the details of suitable carers in 24 hours.
Shape your solution
Review your carers and chat to your favourites, before choosing who you like best. You’ll also need to complete your care profile – our clinical team uses this to ensure care can go ahead safely.
Stay in control of everything
Once care is in place you and your family can control care from anywhere with MyElder. And if you need to speak to someone, our specialist family support team will happily answer your questions.
“We were desperate to get my terminally ill mother home from the hospital. Elder came up with excellent live-in carers who were both kind and diligent. The whole process of arranging care felt simple. “
– Hamish
“We wanted [Dad] to come home from hospital to be able to die in peace. Maciej was indeed magic, as he was kind, caring and showed absolute respect for our family and our loved one.”
– Lorraine
“There is nothing better than care at home. You can look back when your loved one passes knowing that the best care was provided. I can not rate Elder and the carers highly enough and would recommend them to any one who might be in our position.”
– Martin
Find a friendly face and safe pair of hands
We go to great lengths to ensure that every independent carer on our platform is someone you can trust and get on with. We perform the detailed background checks and assessments you’d expect from a leading care provider, starting with the simple question, ‘Would I want this person looking after my own mum or dad?’
- Less than 10% of applicants pass our screening process
- Carers must provide professional and verifiable references
- Every carer must have a clean, valid DBS or PVG
- Carers undergo character and judgement assessments
As seen in
If your loved one has dementia, they’ll get a carer with experience of looking after someone with the condition. We also interview all carers via Zoom to get a real sense of who they are, and they undertake a full background check and must provide at least 2 professional and verifiable references of their work history.
While we’re unable to arrange in-person meetings ahead of the carer arriving, there’s plenty of ways to really get to know them and feel confident in your choice. We’ll send your family a full profile and personal introductory video for each carer so you can learn all about their skills, experience and what other Elder customers think about them. You can also use the chat feature in MyElder to speak to carers directly, or ask to arrange a video call to meet them virtually.
Yes, it’s a requirement for all carers working with us to be able to speak fluent English. If they’re not British nationals, we make sure they have the right skills and experience and are up to the same, rigorous standards we have in the UK.
Yes, we do have customers who use support from their local authority in the form of direct payments. To claim from your local council, start by arranging a care needs assessment with them. After this your loved one’s liquid (that’s not including their property) assets will be assessed. In England, if they have less than £23,250 they’ll be eligible for government support. To find out more about funding, take a look at our resources here.
We understand the importance of continuity for those living with conditions such as dementia. However, the carers we work with are only human, and do require time off. You can expect your family’s primary carer to be with you for around four weeks at a time, usually taking one or two weeks off. During this period, we’ll work with you to choose and arrange for a respite carer to step in.
If the need is urgent, we’re able to put care in place in as little as 24-48 hours, sometimes less – it all depends on your own unique situation.
The carer will need their own bedroom to use for sleeping and as a place to relax when they are taking a break. It is best to provide a television and internet access for them since they will be spending so much time with you. The carer will prepare meals and probably eat with you, so separate dining facilities will not be needed. We’d recommend budgeting £40 per week for the carer’s food. However, if you’d like us to arrange it, we can add it to your weekly payments.
If you or your loved one likes to get out and about and they are well enough to do so, it can be a good idea to supply a car that the live-in carer can use. Having a car to use can also help with shopping trips and transport to appointments or daycare sessions, especially if you’re in an isolated area. Please bear in mind, for carers with cars we do ask for an additional fee. This is passed directly on to the carer.
There are various pieces of nursing equipment you can buy that can make care at home easier.
If you or a loved one spends a lot of time in bed or needs to change position at regular intervals, they may benefit from a hospital bed. In addition to raising and lowering to the optimum position for the carer to work, it will help to get into a comfortable position and sit upright for meals. Hospital beds also have side rails to use if the person is at risk of falling. Extra equipment such as pressure relief mattresses will also minimise the development of pressure sores.
Usually, the district nursing service will advise on the best specialist equipment for providing care at home. They should also be able to organise the supply of these items from NHS stores, although some items may have to be purchased privately.
If you or your family member has mobility issues, it’s worth looking into the various aids that can help – from walking aids such as Zimmer frames to the installation of a stair lift. If unable to stand, you will need a hoist so that the live-in carer can reposition when necessary. Equipment such as a mobile commode is useful for toilet and personal hygiene tasks such as showering.
A live-in carer provides companionship for you or a loved one when family members are unable to be around. They will be chosen on the basis of shared interests and hobbies, as well as for the ability to meet healthcare needs.
In a typical day the carer might play games or share activities such as cooking or gardening. They can also help with getting dressed, and personal hygiene. Put simply, the carer will try to support to ensure you or a loved on can carry on doing the things you enjoy, while minimising risk.
If care is for a loved one, You will be notified of illness or a fall, or anything else that you need to be aware of and the carer will also contact health care professionals such as nurses or doctors if they need to.
No, we can arrange for temporary care and short-term care too. If you usually care for your loved one, but are going on holiday, or just need a bit of time off, live-in care is the perfect cover. Our short-term care service can be arranged for as little as three days at a time.
The carer is on-hand to help. With their usual shift hours around 10-12 hours per day. So you can have the peace of mind of knowing that your loved one is safe and cared for. To provide additional peace of mind, there are many aids available to alert the carer to potential problems.
If your loved one is prone to falls and needs someone with them, a pressure mat placed beside the bed can trigger an alarm that lets the live-in carer know if the person gets up in the night. Similarly, alarms can be installed close to doors so that your loved one cannot wander off without their carer realising.