Live-in home care is a real alternative to residential or nursing home care
The pandemic has had a catastrophic impact on care homes with residents and their loved ones often having to endure terrible tragedy and hardship whilst separated from each other. Unlike many countries, here in the UK, residential care homes are the go to option for caring for elderly people; there are over 400,000 people living in care homes and in comparison only a small number have opted for live-in care in their own home.
During the last year Ashridge Home Care have seen a great shift in people choosing to go down the live-in care route rather than opt to go into a care home, in fact. There is a rising feeling that perhaps the default option of putting an elderly relative in a care home is not the safest option. Live-in care provides one to one care; one carer living in the client’s home means much less risk of infection and is safer for both carer and client.
Ashridge Home Care recently announced a major recruitment drive to help take care of its growing number of clients. Since April last year, Ashridge Homecare has seen a 75% increase in its client base and hired an additional 30 carers. With further growth projected for 2021 they are actively looking to hire over 100 more carers this year to join their 90-strong team.
Ashridge Home Care Founder, Managing Director Trudi Scrivener, is passionate about making sure all clients can maintain their independence and grow old with dignity. “Live-in care has shown time and again that it is beneficial from both a physical and mental wellbeing perspective. It allows people to stay in the comfort of their own home, amongst their own possessions and memories, yet receive comfort, companionship and professional care as they need it.”
Recently voted Best Employer in Buckinghamshire, the team at Ashridge are always looking at how they can improve the quality of life for their clients and have introduced some great new innovations, such as appointing a head chef to help mentor other carers to learn how to cook simple, nutritious meals. They even produced their own recipe book with the help of TV chef and nutritionist, Janet Brinkworth from the BBC’s Saturday Kitchen! Other creative ideas include developing a 10 minute yoga routine that carers can do with clients to keep them moving and arranging for a footcare practitioner to teach basic footcare to carers via online sessions.
This innovative approach to providing the very best care has meant that the team have been able to achieve positive outcomes for their clients.
For more information about care options: Please give Ashridge a call on 01494 913447 or visit www.ashridgehomecare.co.uk.