The Role of Domiciliary Care In Stroke Recovery

The Aftermath of a Stroke

When you’ve experienced a stroke, you will take some time to recover, depending on the severity of your stroke. According to the NHS, “For some, it may take days or weeks to recover and there will be little impact on their life. For others, recovery can take months or years and may mean making life changes.” This means that, in many cases, significant changes may need to be made, such as home adaptations, regular care, and rehabilitation appointments. Because Helping Hands have been supporting customers with their stroke aftercare since 1989, we are the number one choice for dedicated home care. We’ll work alongside your wider healthcare team to ensure you’re fully supported in the home you love and wish to remain living in. Our great care is delivered by great carers who are skilled, professional and responsive. At Helping Hands, your health is our priority.

The Benefits of Domiciliary Care for Stroke Recovery

Domiciliary care is care you receive at home, the benefits of which, in stroke recovery, are enormous. Not only do you get to stay in the place you love, but you have dedicated carers in your home with you, on either a visiting or live-in care basis. Other benefits include:

Quicker recovery

You’ll adapt to any physical changes much easier in a familiar environment, where you can manoeuvre around existing layouts of rooms and change things to suit your needs more effectively.

Maintaining routines

Your carer will support you in continuing your existing routines and help you to become familiar with any necessary adaptations. As you recover from your stroke you’ll appreciate familiar surroundings.

A familiar & friendly environment

When you’re recovering from a stroke, you want to be in your own home. Everything is familiar and easier to navigate, and all the sights and sounds, such as your precious garden and pets, are comforting.

Personalised care

We offer both visiting and live-in care to suit your requirements for after-stroke care. We’ll design you a personalised care plan that incorporates every aspect of your physical and emotional needs.

One-to-one support

Unlike when you’re in hospital or a nursing home, stroke aftercare at home means you’re the only person being cared for. This offers unparalleled personalised support on a one-to-one basis.

Avoid moving house

Leaving the home you love to move into residential care can be distressing, especially if it’s unnecessary. Having care in your own home avoids the stress and financial burden of moving house.

Services Provided

Helping Hands provide unrivalled person-centred care. Our care can be lower level and intermittent or around-the-clock and complex. However you need us, we can be there for you. Our clinical nursing team manages our complex support packages and ensures the carers have all the skills they need to offer exceptional after-stroke care. We’ll work closely with your wider healthcare team so that once you’re discharged from hospital, you get an all-round experience of recovery that takes all your needs into account. Our first priority is making sure that your plan of care focuses totally on your needs, your routines and your lifestyle. We’ll always do our best to match you with a carer who shares your interests and quickly becomes a friend.

The Use of Technology

The Stroke Association are currently working with researchers to investigate how technology can be better used to support stroke survivors. These include:

A new muscle stimulator that can improve arm and leg function
A virtual environment for exercise games at home with a healthcare professional
A ‘stroke companion’ hub providing high-quality, personalised and shareable information
A digital rehabilitation system that supports stroke survivors with upper limb rehabilitation
Enhanced ultrasound, powerful enough to see through the skull to improve the clarity of images
A new type of blood test that may be able to identify key chemicals in the blood for stroke

How the Family Can Help

Having a family member who has a stroke is incredibly upsetting and stressful for family members, too. It is an emotional time, not knowing how well their loved one will be as they recover from the stroke, and how their life will be affected from then onwards. Family may be involved in the practical caregiving or focus more on emotional support, keeping morale up and helping them all to focus on the positives. It’s important that everyone is involved in the care process and decide together what the best care choices would be. Whether loved ones are stepping in with practical support and, therefore, only occasional professional support is needed, or it’s decided that live-in care would be better, we can help you all plan the care package that best suits the situation.

Get the Help a Loved One Needs with Helping Hands

At Helping Hands, we embrace a flexible approach to our stroke care that allows us to support the whole family. Our fully trained carers are delivering person-centred stroke care every single day, achieving exceptional results across the whole of England and Wales. We have 150 branches in the UK, so we’re bound to have one near you, and with them all fully regulated by the Care Quality Commission and the Care Inspectorate Wales, you’re always in the very best hands. Because we’ve been supporting people for decades, our consistently high standards of care, delivered by skilled and attentive carers, will ensure you receive the very best after-stroke care. They’ll support with all of your needs at home, including: