Finding care with Elder
A quick and easy guide to requesting a carer, and completing your care profile - all within your free MyElder online account.
At Elder we understand that inviting someone new into the home and life is a big deal. You need a carer who not only has the right skills and experience to provide quality one-to-one care, but who shares similar interests, and overtime, can become a true companion.
We’ve created a series of quick and straightforward questionnaires to capture key information about you or your loved one. We’ll use your information to find carers with the right experience and personality to fit seamlessly into your life.
Our clinical team will also use it to ensure live-in care can take place safely.
Below, we’ll run through the kinds of things you’ll need to think about when filling in these questionnaires.
The ‘Find the right carer’ questions
This gives us the essential information we need to kick off the search for your carer. It covers who you’re looking to arrange care for, information about where they live, and the kind of help they need at home.
Needs
These questions usually take around 3 minutes to complete.
Basic information
There’s nothing out of the ordinary here, we’ll ask for a name, gender and date of birth.Medical conditions
Add medical conditions from the list provided, and select the level of impact they have on daily life.
Mobility
Choose the right mobility level and let us know of any recent falls.
Nighttime activity
Does the person needing care wake up during the night? If so, tell us about it.
Hobbies
What activities does the person needing care enjoy doing? Are they part of any social clubs?
Discrimination risk
We want to keep everyone safe, so if the person needing care has treated someone unfairly, tell us about it here in confidence.
Preferences
These questions usually take around 2 minutes to complete.
Would you prefer a carer of a certain gender?
Do you mind if a carer is a smoker?
Do you need a carer who can drive?
Are there pets living in the home?
Does anyone living in the home smoke?
Does the home have Wifi?
Does the home have security cameras?
What’s the full address?
What date would you like a carer to start?
Do you need care for a fixed period, or on an on-going basis?
Building your ‘Care profile’
These questions expand on some of the answers given in the ‘Find your carer’ section and create a full picture of your or your loved one’s daily health and care needs. Our clinical team will review these answers to assess whether care can safely go ahead.Top tip – Using visual prompts
Medical terminology can be confusing. If you’re unsure what something is when answering questions about medical aids and devices, click on the photograph icon next to the text to see what it looks like.
Health Overview
This section usually takes about 20 minutes to complete.
Medical devices
Does the person needing care use devices such as a pacemaker or catheter?
Medical aids
Do they require glasses or hearing aids? Do they have dentures?
Skin health
Does their skin bruise or damage easily?
Prescribed medication
What medication have they been prescribed by a doctor? How much do they take and when?
Over the counter medication
What medication do they purchase from the pharmacy, how much do they take and when?
Allergies
Are they allergic to any medications? Do they have any other allergies, such as pollen or cat hair?
Negative thoughts
Have they ever thought about or tried to hurt themselves?
Challenging behaviour
Have they ever physically or verbally mistreated anyone who’s cared for them?
Background
From jobs they’ve had and where they’ve lived, to who their family is, this helps build a full picture of a person
Food and diet
Whether they need help eating, or follow any special diets.
Daily routine
How do they like to spend an average day, from when they wake up, to when they go to bed?
Personal care
How much help do they need to wash and dress themselves or brush their teeth?
Incontinence
Do they have regular toileting accidents? Do they need assistance getting to the toilet, or use pads
Supervision
Is it safe to leave them alone for a short amount of time?
Top tip – adding medical information
We’ve made it as simple as possible to add complex medical information.- Select the condition or medication from the dropdown menu. if the one you’re looking for isn’t there, just pick ‘other’.
- Follow the prompts to add impact / dosage instructions
- Add as many as you need. You can keep going until you have everything covered.
The home environment
This section usually takes about 5 minutes to complete.Access
Is the property difficult to find? Is there a coded entrance or intercom?
The surrounding area
How close is it to a supermarket, rail station, or park?
Property type
Is it an apartment, a house, or a bungalow?
The carers room
Do they have a single or double bed, and space to store their things?
Carer amenities
Do they have access to their own bathroom, can they use things like the washing machine or microwave?
Domestic help
Will the carer need to help with grocery shopping or cleaning?