What is complex care?
Complex care is person-centred support for someone living with a chronic condition.
Complex care is a type of healthcare and support given to people who have chronic or long-term health conditions who need extra help to manage their symptoms and daily tasks. Examples of such conditions include neurological disorders, disabilities, injuries, and sometimes the use of feeding tubes. Complex care differs from general domiciliary care because it usually involves medical intervention of some sort, and can also be provided if someone requires nursing care.
Complex needs refers to the variety of challenges that people in care may encounter, whether they are mental, physical or emotional.
Who is complex care for?
Anyone living with a long-term, progressive illness or injury can benefit from complex care.
Overseen by our team of clinical nurses with years of medical experience and expertise, complex care needs encompass a wide range of health conditions and healthcare services, including: developmental and learning disabilities like autism, Down’s syndrome, and epilepsy – as well as severe mental health disorders such as anorexia, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.
What types of complex care do we offer?
We offer a range of complex care services to suit your personal needs.
The aim of complex care from Helping Hands is to enable you to do the things you want to do, whilst being surrounded by the place you know and love the most; your home. With that in mind, our packages of care are completely individual to you, which means they’re flexible and can adapt around your changing needs too. Here’s what’s involved in our visiting care, live-in care and respite care:
Visiting care
Live-in care
Respite care
What goes into a complex support plan?
A complex care plan offers a comprehensive solution to support your health needs.
A complex care support plan will include all of the details relating to an individual’s health care needs, including any diagnosis that they may have, and the treatment required.
Written in first person, a support plan is centred around the individual and their wishes, and will include important information such as their next of kin and other medical professionals involved in their care.
The features of a support plan include:
Clinical nurse input
Complex care plans will have input from a Regional Clinical Lead, who will work alongside your local care manager
Initial care assessment
Your initial care assessment is a full evaluation of your condition to best understand your support needs
Your needs, prioritised
Every aspect of support plan will always be designed around ensuring your needs are being prioritised
Continual reviews
We’ll regularly review your care needs so that essential adjustments to your plan can be made in a timely manner
The difference between complex care and home care
Finding the right care provider for your family can take time, but one thing is for certain: if your loved one wants to remain at home, they can. Live-in care from Helping Hands serves as a viable alternative to residential care, and here’s why:
You can remain in the comfort of your own home
You have full control over your meal times and preferences
One-to-one, 24-hour care from your own dedicated carer
You can continue with your preferred lifestyle and routines
Your friends and family can visit as much as they like
Fully regulated Visiting and Live-in Care
Visiting and Live in Care
We are a fully regulated home care provider, closely monitored by the Care Quality Commission
Independent inspections
Regular inspections, including unannounced visits, give you peace of mind that we are committed to doing what we say we will do.
Fully vetted carers
We have a robust recruitment processes in place and ensure all necessary checks are carried out before we employ someone to work at Helping Hands. We take the time to make sure we only employ the right people.
Consistently meet high standards of care
We must consistently show that we meet the highest standards of care and provide safe, effective, caring, responsive and well-led services.
Guaranteed training and development
All our employers are trained to nationally-recognised standards before they work unsupervised with our customers. We provide ongoing professional development and support so our carers remain competent and safe to carry out their role.
Complex home care from Helping Hands
With over 35 years of home care experience, you can trust us to deliver expert support.
At Helping Hands, we’ve been delivering person-centred home care since 1989. In that time, we’ve helped tens of thousands of people to continue living independently, comfortably and securely at home.
Here are some of the things our customers love about our home care:
One-to-one support
With complex home care from Helping Hands, you’ll get one-to-one support from a dedicated carer
Care on your own terms
Home care allows you to receive a package of care that is fully tailored to your personal needs and wishes
See friends and family
We support you to live on your own terms as much as possible, including seeing loved ones whenever you wish
Expertly-trained carers
As a private care provider, we take responsibility for training all of our carers to a very high standard
How long can I have complex care for?
The length of your complex care will vary depending on your personal situation.
We recognise that everyone’s care situation is completely different – whether you’ve just come out of hospital and need care for weeks or months to help you get you back on your feet, or if you have a complex condition that you’ve lived with since birth and want to be able to live by yourself.
That’s why we’re so committed to ensuring every customer receives a care plan that is designed with their personal requirements and preferences at the centre, ensuring you’re always fully supported.
Amazing carers, delivering quality care
Read some of our customer stories
Find out more about how our brilliant carers are supporting two of our wonderful customers – Molly and Martin – to continue living independent, happy and fulfilling lives in the comfortable, familiar surroundings of their own homes..
Molly
Parkinson’s care customer
Martin
Live-in care customer
3 simple steps…
How to arrange care
Speak to our team
Our friendly, knowledgeable team can answer your questions and talk you through your options. We are available 7 days a week.
Book a free care assessment
Your local Helping Hands care manager will visit you to understand your needs and preferences and discuss how we can help. We can visit you at home, in hospital or even a care home to carry out the care assessment.
Confirm your care package
We create a tailored care plan for you to review. Once you’ve agreed the plan, we can organise care in as little as 24 hours.
Complex care FAQs
Complex care is a specialist form of support available to those with a chronic or long-term health condition, who require extra assistance to manage their symptoms and complete day-to-day activities. Complex care can be provided either at home or in a residential nursing home, depending on the patient’s preference.
Complex care management is a package of care designed to effectively assist patients and their caregivers in managing medical conditions. This may involve support from our clinical team and will require us to work alongside other health professionals, such as GPs, social workers and district nurses.
A complex care nurse leads a tailored package of care delivered by a team of carers to patients with significant, long-term and complex healthcare issues, such as chronic illness or a neurological condition.
People with complex mental health needs typically experience significant, rare or persistent mental health challenges that impact their day-to-day activities, including personal care, work/education and in the community. Our CQC-accredited carers will work with you to manage your symptoms and enable you to live your life independently.
Any long-term, progressive illness or injury is generally considered to be a complex need, including mental illnesses. Our carers are fully trained to support people with a wide range of complex care needs.
You can arrange complex care today by calling our friendly customer support team. They’re available seven days a week, and are always happy to help out with any queries. You can also contact us using the form on our website, where you can arrange a callback from our team at your convenience.
Once you’ve chatted to our customer support team, they’ll arrange a convenient time for your local care manager to visit you at home and provide you with a care assessment. Once we’ve ascertained your care needs and any preferences you may have, we’ll prepare a care plan that gives you just the right type and level of care that you require to continue living independently, confidently and comfortably in the home that you love.
Page reviewed by Kathryn Mahon, Regional Clinical Lead, on July 25, 2024.
How we wrote this page
This page has been produced referencing key insights and data from external experts, trusted medical sources and our team of in-house specialists. We have worked hard to ensure that all information is as accurate as possible and reflects current consensus at the time of writing and reviewing.