Care guides

Clear answers for difficult moments

Practical, local guidance for the moments families ask us about most, and the care options explained. Read in your own time.

When something changes

Hospital discharge
Coming home from hospital
Practical questions to ask before discharge and what support to arrange first.
Hospital discharge
Discharge to assess explained
What this hospital process means and what may happen once someone is home.
After a fall
Staying steady after a fall
Clear first steps for safety, recovery and getting the right help.
Paying for care
Paying for care at home
An introduction to assessments, personal budgets and paying privately.
Legal matters
Lasting power of attorney
Where to begin when someone needs help making decisions.
Equipment
Equipment and adaptations
Simple changes and equipment that may make home safer.
Dementia
After a dementia diagnosis
The people to contact and the practical things to consider first.
Help at home
Having the care conversation
Ways to start a calm conversation and understand what matters to them.
Caring from afar
Caring from a distance
How to organise support when you do not live nearby.
Carers
Getting a break as a carer
How to ask for support and explore respite options.

What each one is, when it fits, how it is paid for and what to ask.

Home care
Support in the home they know
Visiting carers, live-in care and short-term help to recover, so someone can stay safely at home.
Care homes
When home is no longer the right place
Residential, nursing and dementia care homes, short respite stays, and how to compare them well.
Later-life lawyers
Legal decisions, in place in good time
Lasting powers of attorney, wills, deputyship and advice on care fees from specialist solicitors.
Financial planners
Making the money last
Specialist later-life advice on paying for care, care fees annuities, equity release and protecting a partner.

Attendance Allowance, Carer’s Allowance, Blue Badges and Council Tax reductions, and free help filling in the forms.