Get Care Wise – online glossary of terms
Understanding basic care concepts can help you to feel more confident from the get-go. You won’t be expected to know all the jargon – there won’t be a test! – but familiarising yourself with the key terms can help you make more informed decisions.
Here are some of the terms you will likely see a lot:
Care Assessment
Before receiving care, a professional will assess the care needs of the person. This often involves a detailed chat and look through the person’s medical history, and helps build their care plan – the key document that guides how the person will be cared for.
Care plans
An agreement between the resident and those who are delivering care, designed to clarify what support is needed and how it will be provided. Care plans allow residents to have a say in how they want to be cared for, and ensure support workers are clear on the individual’s needs.
Care Quality Commission (CQC)
An independent regulatory body in England that monitors the standards of social care services and rates them one of the following: Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement, or Inadequate. You can find a home’s CQC rating and report on the CQC website.
NHS continuing care
NHS continuing care refers to care and support provided by the NHS for people with ongoing healthcare needs. This care is provided by health and social care professionals over a period of time, generally outside of a hospital environment (most often in a care home or in your own home) and is arranged and funded solely by the NHS.
Nursing care
This refers to the type of care given to those who have been assessed as requiring care to be delivered by a qualified nurse. Like residential homes, they will offer support, accommodation and meals, but in addition will have the specialist expertise on hand to provide additional support and care.
Residential Care
People receiving residential care can have a range of needs, often needing help with daily tasks such as washing and dressing. However residential care homes will not usually offer care to people living with dementia, or more complex nursing needs.
Dementia care
Homes that offer dementia care will often be purpose-built to ensure the safety of residents who are living with dementia, and support workers will be specially trained to care for people on all stages of their dementia journey.
Palliative care
Palliative care, or end-of-life care, can be provided to a range of individuals, including those undergoing treatment for curable illnesses, people with chronic medical conditions, or those nearing the end of their lives. Palliative care is often focused on ensuring a resident’s comfort and pain-relief.
Personal care
Personal care covers a range of support, but usually refers to helping individuals with daily tasks like washing, dressing, help with using the bathroom, or with mobility.
Respite care
Respite care (also known as short break or short-term care) is designed to provide support and the occasional break for full time carers, or if an individual’s full-time carer is going on holiday. Respite care is also provided to individuals who no longer need to be in hospital, but are not well enough to return home yet.
Show-around
This refers to your initial visit to a care home, where you will be given a tour of the home and be able to get a sense of what life will be like there. Depending on the home, you could be shown around by the manager, a senior carer, or a dedicated Family Liaison Manager. You will then be invited to have an open conversation about the care you or your loved one is looking for, including a discussion of care needs, funding options and next steps.
Twelve week property disregard
When a local authority assesses a person to see whether they require long care and support, they will also do a financial assessment to determine whether the authority should be meeting the cost of this care. Although this assessment covers both savings and property, for the first 12 weeks of care the authority will ignore the value of property to enable individuals to find a way of deriving revenue from their property if funding is required. This might be through sale or renting it out to tenants. This is known as the twelve week property disregard.
Funding Threshold
Your financial circumstances factor into how your care is funded. Currently, you are entitled to help with the cost of your care if your savings (including any property) are below £23,250.
Power of Attorney
This is the legal process of assigning one or more people you trust to make complex decisions on your behalf, e.g. about finances or health, in the event you lose the capacity to make them yourself.
Sources
- Dementia UK
- Gov.uk
- Lottie
- Carehome.co.uk
- Independent Age
- NHS
- Age UK