Cancer Care at Home

Support through treatment and fatigue

Chemotherapy and radiotherapy cycles have a rhythm to them: some days are manageable, others are not. Care can be arranged to be heavier in the difficult days after treatment and lighter when things pick up, rather than fixed regardless.

Carers help with washing and dressing, getting to the bathroom, changing bedding, keeping fluids going and preparing food that appeals when appetite has gone.

• Personal care on the days when energy is lowest
• Meals, fluids and appetite friendly food
• Laundry, bedding and keeping the house manageable
• Company, and quiet when quiet is what is wanted

Medication, appointments and coordination

Carers prompt and record medication as set out in the care plan, collect prescriptions, and keep a clear daily record that the district nurse or GP can read. Where the family cannot always be there, carers can support the journey to hospital appointments and be at home for district nurse visits.

Respite for the family

Partners and adult children often carry most of this and reach exhaustion without noticing. Planned respite, overnight support or a live-in carer gives the family the capacity to keep going. That is not a failure on their part, it is how people manage a long treatment period.

• Visiting care from £22 an hour
• Overnight and waking night support
• Planned respite weeks
• Live-in care from £1,150 a week

If care becomes palliative

Where treatment moves to comfort and symptom control, care at home can continue with the same carers, working alongside the hospice team and district nurses. Continuity matters enormously at that stage, for the person and for the family. Our palliative care at home page explains how that works in more detail.