Working out what care is needed

Start with a week, not a job title. Write down what actually goes wrong in a normal week — meals missed, a bath that has become frightening, no company between Tuesday and Friday. What kind of professional you need falls out of that list.

You do not need a diagnosis or a referral to search here, and you do not need to know whether you want a support worker or a nurse. If you are unsure, the assistant can talk it through, or you can tell us and a person will help.

Nobody can answer that from the outside, and anyone who gives you a number without knowing the person is guessing. What most families do is book a short first visit, see how it goes, and adjust.

You are not committing to a schedule by booking once. Each visit is its own booking.

This is the most common difficulty in arranging care and it is not a failure. Where you can, involve them in choosing the professional — reading profiles and picking someone themselves changes how a first visit goes.

We can only arrange care for an adult who is able to agree to it themselves. If that is not the situation you are in, we are not yet able to help, and we would rather tell you now than at the end of a booking.

Yes. Care needs change, often quickly. You can book a different professional, a different service or different hours at any point, and nothing carries over that you have not asked for.