Soothing End of Life care
Highly personalised end-of-life care
At ICare Resource Limited our end-of-life care service provides families with a tailored care at home service designed around your needs, enabling loved ones who are in the final stages of their life to live as comfortably as possible.
Our end-of-life care service is a flexible care option enabling you to stay at home with support from a professional carer for a few hours a week through to multiple hours a day, or even sleepovers or waking nights.
End-of-life care enables you to continue to live the life how you want to, on your terms, providing support with anything from basic domestic support, companionship, personal care, medication help, through to support with more complex conditions such as dementia or Parkinson’s.
CQC regulated home care
Unlike introduction agencies we are fully regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) giving you the peace of mind that the care and support we provide is regularly monitored, inspected and regulated by the independent regulator of health and social care in England.
At ICare Resource Limited, we have been rated Good and we know that this gives our clients and their families the comfort that they are receiving the best care service available.
Locally managed end-of-life care
We provide sensitive, supportive and tailored end-of-life care, making it possible to pass away peacefully at home, rather than in a hospice or residential care home.
If the option is available, most of us would choose to pass away peacefully in the familiar surroundings of our own home. It’s also important to us to be around those we love. ICare’s end-of-life care makes it possible to spend your precious last days or weeks at home.
For someone with a terminal condition (and for family and friends) sensitive, personalised end-of-life care at home turns what can be a very distressing process into one that is comforting and dignified. With ICare carers looking after you or your loved one you can be assured that medication and other needs will be attended to as part of a pre-arranged care plan.
Our carers focus on respecting dignity and privacy and will work with you and your family to understand specific needs and wishes.
Our care management team also undertakes regular monitoring of the care we provide, including an initial review after the first 4-weeks, formal reviews at least every 6 months, annual feedback questionnaires and ongoing monitoring of any concerns, events or issues. We also invest a huge amount of time in training, supervising, developing and supporting our carers which is key to enabling them to provide the highest quality care.
What is End-of-Life care?
End of life care is usually defined as care for people likely to die within a year, and is intended to enable people to live as well as possible until they die, and to die with dignity. For some people, and some health conditions, it is clear that the end of life is approaching well in advance, but others may sadly only have months or weeks before that time comes. Recognising when someone is likely to die can be challenging for clinicians to predict, and can add to the challenges for individuals and families in making decisions about care at the end of life.
Palliative care refers to care provided when conditions cannot be cured, and aims to make the individual as comfortable as possible and relieve pain and other distressing symptoms, and provide psychological, social and spiritual care, as well as support for families, carers and those close to the person.
What do end-of-life carer do?
A end-of-life carer can support you with a range of activities, all of which can be included in your care plan, including:
Companionship
Company and companionship from a carer matched to you so you can enjoy life with the right level of stimulation and emotional support.
Personal Care & Hygiene
Help with your personal needs such as dressing, personal cleanliness, lavatory needs and grooming, all with dignity and discretion.
Medication Help
Our carers are trained in supporting you with managing and administering your medications. They can collect prescriptions from the pharmacy.
Staying Active
We’re able to work closely with occupational therapists and other health professionals to ensure your mobility needs are met.
Shopping for Food & Essentials
Our carers can help you with shopping whether it involves popping out to the shops or arranging the shopping online delivery.
Light Housekeeping
This may include washing and ironing, cleaning rooms or vacuuming, to ensure your usual standards of cleanliness are maintained.
Meal Preparation & Nutrition
Your carer can help you plan and prepare nutritious meals to ensure your dietary needs are met, at a time that suits you.
Social Activities & Connecting
Our care workers can always support you to continue to socialise and keep close to family and friends as much as possible.
Transportation & Errands
This may involve helping you get and about in your local community, going out on trips and hospital appointment or running errands on your behalf.
Hobbies and interests
Continuing to enjoy hobbies and interests helps maintain your independence and our carers will support you.
Specialist Care
The professionals will monitor your current health outcomes and our carers are trained to support you with complex conditions.
End-of-Life care FAQs
The nurse or doctor can give you advice about this.
They can also help by:
- arranging an assessment of what equipment the person needs
- providing equipment for physical care (e.g. mouth care sticks)
- showing you how to use this equipment
You could talk to an occupational therapist about what equipment the person needs.
A physiotherapist or occupational therapist may also help with the person’s breathing and movement.
Our palliative care team provides several types of assistance:
Pain and symptom control: We identify your sources of pain and discomfort, such as problems with breathing, fatigue, depression, insomnia, or bowel or bladder difficulties. Then we provide treatments that can offer relief, including medication, massage therapy, and relaxation techniques.
Communication and coordination: We place great importance on communication among you, your family and caregivers, and your team of health care professionals. We do our best to ensure that all your needs are fully met. We help establish your goals for care, assist with decision-making, and aid in coordination of care.
Emotional support: We focus on you, the entire person, not just your illness. We will address any social, psychological, emotional, or spiritual needs that you or your family may have.
Family/caregiver support: Caregivers bear a great deal of stress too, so we are there for them as well. It can ease your mind to know that your loved ones have support and can help you with your decision making.
With help from our end-of-life care team, you can expect to have more control over your care and a comfortable and supportive atmosphere that reduces anxiety and stress. We review your plan of care every day and discuss it with you to make sure your needs and wishes are being met and that your treatments are in line with your goals. You can also expect relief from symptoms such as pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, constipation, nausea, loss of appetite, and difficulty sleeping. end-of-life care addresses the whole person. It helps you carry on with your daily life and makes it easier for you to go through medical treatments. We also help you better understand your condition and your choices for medical care. In short, you can expect the best possible quality of life with palliative care.
End-of-life care can help you manage your illness, particularly pain and symptoms so you can continue to live life as well as you can, while dealing with your illness. You may need it or want to have it from early in your diagnosis or you may choose to take it up once your illness progresses to a certain stage. You may have an on-off rotation through palliative care through various stages of your illness as you have periods of wellness and illness. Palliative care can mean different things to different people.