Contact us
Please get in touch to arrange your live-in care home assessment.
Parkinson’s care at home
At The Good Care Group, we have been supporting people to live a purposeful and meaningful life with Parkinson’s disease care for over 10 years. We know how worrying it can be for families when faced with the reality that a loved one is living with the condition. However, a Parkinson’s diagnosis does not mean you cannot live well with the disease, maintaining as much independence as possible with the right level of care and support.
Stay at home with high quality Parkinson’s disease care
Receiving compassionate care in the comfort, safety and familiarity of your own home has far reaching benefits in improving overall health and wellbeing for a person living with Parkinson’s, as opposed to moving into a care home.
Moving at any stage in life can be disruptive and stressful, and so much more so when faced with a diagnosis of a condition like Parkinson’s. We know that staying at home and receiving compassionate, one-to-one care from a highly trained and well-matched professional carer improves quality of life for an individual living with Parkinson’s disease. Our personalised approach to providing high quality Parkinson’s disease home care, with a fully managed and flexible service that families can rely on is setting the standards in live in care for those with Parkinson’s.
Parkinson’s live-in care
At The Good Care Group, we believe that people living with Parkinson’s disease have the right to enjoy a high quality of life, with dignity and independence in their own home. We know how important it is for people to retain choice and control in life, and for many the desire to remain in their own home and community is essential to their overall health and wellbeing.
Our live-in care service for those living with Parkinson’s is highly personalised focusing on a true understanding of the fluctuating and individual nature of the condition. Our professional care team, who are all trained by Parkinson’s UK, the leading Parkinson’s charity supporting those affected by the disease, truly understand the need for proactive and effective medication regimes to be responsive to the changing nature of the condition. We adopt a compassionate, flexible and holistic approach to care at home recognising that Parkinson’s can mean a person is not only living with mobility issues, but will often have emotional, social and psychological needs too.
What does our Parkinson’s care include?
Specialist nurse-led Parkinson’s home care
Importantly for those living with Parkinson’s, we provide nurse-led care which means our professional carers are trained to monitor and identify any changes in your health, responding appropriately and avoiding any unnecessary hospital admissions. As part of our commitment to delivering a high-quality home care service, we monitor and measure health outcomes to ensure we continually improve the care we provide.
Managing and administering medications
Our professional Parkinson’s carers are trained in medications management and use an electronic medications system to ensure all medications are managed proactively and effectively. They will also collect prescriptions from the pharmacy. They will also collect prescriptions from the pharmacy.
Ensuring safe mobility in and around the home
We have an in-house Occupational Therapist, Jackie Cooper who will provide expert guidance and advice as to what equipment can improve safe movement and mobility around your home, whilst minimising falls. Jackie is well placed to provide advice and recommendations as to any home adaptations that may make life easier.
Companionship as and when you need it
Our carers will provide companionship whilst ensuring your privacy is respected. We ensure that a perfectly matched carer shares similar values and interests as you to make life interesting, stimulating and enjoyable, whilst being there for you to support your emotional and psychological needs.
Providing discreet and sensitive personal care
This can include the task-orientated aspects of caring for someone, like bathing and getting dressed, but also those that promote self-esteem, like having your nails maintained, or your hair styled.
Planning and cooking meals
With our in home Parkinson’s care, meals will be planned and cooked according to your choice, preferences and nutritional needs, all served at a time that suits you.
Facilitating social arrangements in the home
Your carer will ensure you can invite friends over for socialisation and celebrations, providing the support you need to enjoy yourself and not worry about organising anything.
Trips and visits out of the home in your local community
Our carers know how important it is to ensure you can continue to do as much you wish and that you remain connected to your local community – whether that is a stroll round the local park or attending clubs or groups in the local area or visiting friends, or those shops you always have.
Domestic tasks
This includes cleaning of all rooms and vacuuming throughout to keep your house to the standards of cleanliness and tidiness you
always have.
Caring for your much-loved pet
Carers will happily support looking after your pet, including taking dogs for regular walks.
Parkinson’s home care services – live in care, short term care or respite care
We provide specialist Parkinson’s disease home care as either 24 hour live-in care, as a short term care arrangement or as respite care.
With a full time, live in care arrangement our professional Parkinson’s carers will live with you in your home providing around the clock care and support, focused on improving your health and wellbeing, whilst enhancing the quality of your life. There are many benefits of 24 hour care, not least that the carer will truly get to know you as a person, not just your care needs but they will be on hand to support you to live life the way you wish, with as much independence as possible.
Respite care or a short term arrangement provide an opportunity for a family carer to take a much needed break from caring for someone living with Parkinson’s, or for you to try live-in care for the first time to see how live-in care works and whether it is the right choice for
you in the future.
Case study: How live in care improved Arthur to live well with Parkinson’s disease care
My father Arthur is 76 and lives in North London with my mother, Maisie. He has Parkinson’s and needs quite a bit of help every day to get up and dressed, eat good meals, take his pills and get out and about.
His speech is not very good and if you don’t know him well, it is hard to understand what he has to say. He now uses a wheelchair, which he needs someone to push. He also has difficulty in swallowing which makes eating and taking medication a big worry – especially because he is on such a strict regime with his medication.
We had been using an hourly care agency to take the pressure off my mother, but his needs were increasing, and she was struggling to cope. Most worrying for me was that the carers were coming at unpredictable times, which made it harder to know if he was taking the right medication at the right time. There always seemed to be new faces coming to the door. They did not understand my father and I think he found all the changes very tiring. I wanted to find out more about live-in care for Parkinson’s patients and talked to The Good Care Group to see what their Parkinson’s home care service could offer.
We spoke about his increasing needs and how he would feel more comfortable with male carers. They introduced us to Henry and Bob, two carers fully trained by The Good Care Group using Parkinson’s UK materials. They were able to provide specialist round-the-clock support for his condition.
Best of all they were matched to my father perfectly. They both loved their motorsport – my father spent most of his working life in that industry – so there was plenty of common ground between them.
Live-in care gives us the flexibility and continuity we wanted for him. Flexible because Parkinson’s can be unpredictable – some days the symptoms are worse than others. Now we have the continuity with the same two carers, he has a settled routine that is built around him and when he needs to take his medication.
The carers have supported his physio regime by providing some gentle exercises that improve his mobility and make him more independent. They have also sorted out day trips for him and my mother – they had a picnic recently in Regent’s Park, where Henry took care of the practical things, so they could just enjoy themselves.
Both Henry and Bob have done wonders for my father this last year. They can interpret his needs because they have got to know him so well. They slow things down, so they can continually check that dad is content with what is happening and have on-going discussions about his likes and dislikes and build this into his everyday life.
They have taken the burden off my mother and allowed her to be his wife, not his carer. It has had such a big impact on him because he is now enjoying life a lot more – and that has also given me tremendous peace of mind. Thank you for all you have done.
Why choose The Good Care Group for Parkinson’s home care services?
There are many compelling reasons to use The Good Care Group for high quality Parkinson’s in home care.
Parkinson’s expertise
We work closely with several specialist Parkinson’s nurses around the country who offer care and support to our clients who are living with Parkinson’s and their families. All our professional carers receive Parkinson’s training as part of their induction programme in collaboration with Parkinson’s UK, the leading charity in the field of Parkinson’s disease care so you can be assured that the care provided is marketing leading based on best practice. They are trained to understand the impact on daily life caused by the symptoms of Parkinson’s and how they can work positively with the condition to improve quality of life. Carers all receive training in medications management to ensure they are competent to manage complex and personalised medications regimes required for someone living with Parkinson’s.
A perfectly matched care team
A live-in care service usually involves two carers working a two-week rotation. They will be carefully matched working with you and your family. We make sure they are skilled and equipped to meet all your care and support needs. Our focus on matching means the care team chosen share common interests and backgrounds. We know this means life is enjoyable for everyone. Your care team really get to know you and your needs, which means you get consistency of care.
Expertly trained carers for Parkinson’s disease
All our professional carers are required to complete our leading training programme before they care for our clients. Our programme has been created with leading charities and clinical experts. It goes beyond mandatory requirements in the care sector. Carers are then equipped to provide high-quality care and support for those living with specialist conditions. Our carers never stop learning new skills to further enhance the care they provide.
Continuity of care
Unlike an agency we employ our carers. This means they are committed to us, as we are to them. Parkinson’s carers enjoy the security of being employed, which means they stay with us longer. Those who work for agencies move around more. For families this means that you get continuity and consistency of the same care team caring for your loved one. This means high-quality care can be achieved with improved outcomes and no disruption to your loved one’s life.
In-house clinical experts
We have a dedicated team of in-house clinical experts. This includes a specialist consultant nurse, who also provides Admiral Nurse services to those living with dementia. Our management team consists of nursing professionals. They guide our carers to provide safe and effective nurse-led care at home. We also have our own in-house Occupational Therapist (OT) who works closely with healthcare professionals and our care teams. Our OT provides guidance and advice that enables people to live well in their own home with any equipment they may need. These experts lead, monitor and support our care teams to delivery best practice care for Parkinson’s patients.
Innovative care technology
Unlike any other live-in care provider, we have our own online care community. Families, healthcare professionals and carers can access up to date information about the care being provided. It enables more effective monitoring, which means issues can be responded to efficiently. For our families it provides a reassuring window into the care their loved one is receiving. Our carers also use the online community to share ideas and support each other. It provides a vital connection which is important when remote working. Carers will use the online community so their clients can enjoy time online. This includes video calls with family, so they feel connected. Clients can use it to shop online or browse the web.
Improving health outcomes
Every decision we make is driven by delivering improved health outcomes for our clients. Our digital technology allows us to predict risk and shape the care we provide.
We measure health outcomes. We want to know we are improving the quality of our clients’ lives every year.
Our health and well-being aim to reduce:
- Behaviours that may challenge
- Antipsychotic drugs in dementia care
- Falls in the home
- Hospital admissions
- Re-admission to hospital
- Urinary tract infections (UTIs)
- Chest infections
- Carer stress
They aim to promote:
- Independence
- Well-being
- Excellent nutrition and hydration
- Enjoyment in life
Highest service rating from care regulators in England and Scotland
Unlike introduction agencies we are fully regulated in England and Scotland. This means the care and support we provide is regularly inspected. We are the only dedicated live-in care provider in England to achieve an ‘Outstanding’ rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). We have achieved this rating in all five measures – safe, effective, caring responsive and well-led. In Scotland, our service has been inspected by the Care Inspectorate (CI). It has achieved the highest rating of a 6 (Excellent) for quality of care and support and 5 (very good) for staffing, management and leadership. We know this provides families with peace of mind that their loved one is receiving the best possible Parkinson’s home care.
A fully managed service
Families benefit from our fully managed service delivered by care experts. This means you do not need to worry about supervising and managing the carer looking after your loved one. Our professional carers are supervised by an experienced care manager and supported by clinical experts. We provide this support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Your dedicated care manager will be on hand to support you, your loved one and our carer teams. We invest in our care management team to ensure they have enough time to give the support everyone needs. With our fully managed Parkinson’s home care service, families do not have the burden of managing the care arrangement themselves. We know this means families can have peace of mind, whilst enjoying quality time with their loved one. They do not have to worry about the tasks of caring.
Local teams with national coverage
We operate throughout England and Scotland with a local approach to management of our teams near you. Each dedicated care manager providing Parkinson’s home care is local to you and only has a small number of clients to support. This means they can provide higher levels of monitoring and support than other home care providers. It also means a highly personalised approach to care can be delivered.
What is included in our in home Parkinson’s care service?
Our highly personalised Parkinson’s disease home care includes:
- Full assessment before care starts
- Bespoke and flexible care plan developed with input from the family and other healthcare professionals
- Matching of the most suitable care team to meet the holistic needs of our clients
- Dedicated care team led by an expert regional care manager
- Meal planning and household tasks
- Social activities and lifestyle enhancement
- Specialist support and expertise – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week
- Access to clinical expertise and medical support
Costs of our Parkinson’s home care
The cost of care for people living with Parkinson’s and advanced neurological conditions will be typically higher, as it is a specialist care at home service.
It is worth considering however that live-in care is often cheaper than the total cost of domiciliary care for people living with Parkinson’s. When a person is receiving hourly care, provided by a domiciliary care provider it is likely that you will be charged extras for additional services to support the person’s Parkinson’s needs on top of the cost of a carer visiting. These extras add up and can become costly over time. The total cost to provide hourly care to someone living with high or complex needs can sometimes exceed the price of an inclusive live-in care service.
Parkinson’s care at home is typically in line with – and sometimes less than – what you would pay for residential care, with the added benefit of receiving one-to-one tailored care for the person living with Parkinson’s, which simply cannot be achieved in a care home.
Useful resources
We are committed to supporting families through their Parkinson’s journey with information that helps inform their decisions when planning long term care. Parkinson’s UK provide a wealth of information on their website including an online magazine ‘Your Magazine’ offering useful stories, expert advice and tips on how to improve your life and live with the disease. The Cure Parkinson’s Trust (CPT) is another Parkinson’s charity focused on finding disease modifying treatments that change the way the disease progresses and transform the lives of those living with Parkinson’s. Their website has useful information and research, including progress of treatments like stem cell replacement therapies which some families may find useful.
Other conditions we care for
Talk to us about your Parkinson’s care needs
Our friendly and experienced team is here to help you and your family make sense of the options available to you. Call us today – we will help you every step of the way.
