When one partner needs care and the other does not - or both do, differently - the care-home route often means separation or two sets of fees. Care at home is the option that keeps a couple in the same house.
Reedsfield provides care in people's own homes only. We do not operate care homes or arrange care-home placements.
A single live-in carer can usually support both partners, because much of the work - meals, housekeeping, shopping, medication prompts, company - serves the household rather than one individual. Personal care is then delivered to whoever needs it.
Live-in care starts from £1,300 per week, with couples quoted following assessment based on the combined support required.
For one person, live-in care and a mid-range care home are often broadly comparable. For couples, the arithmetic changes completely: a care home charges per person, while one live-in carer supports both. This is the single most common reason couples choose home care.
The usual pattern is one partner with physical needs and one with cognitive decline, or one who is the main carer and quietly exhausted. Plans are written per person, with separate goals and separate records, but delivered around one shared household routine.
Many couples do not need a carer in the house around the clock. Regular visits, from £28 per hour for weekday daytime care with us, can cover the hardest parts of the day for both partners: getting washed and dressed in the morning, a proper lunch, medication prompts and help settling in the evening.
One visit can often serve both people, so the hours booked are planned around the household rather than doubled. As needs grow, visits can increase gradually, and many couples move to live-in care only when the number of daily calls makes it the simpler and better value option.
Council help with care costs is assessed person by person. Each partner who needs support can ask the local council for a free needs assessment, and any financial assessment looks at the income and savings of the person receiving care, not the couple as a unit. Savings held jointly are normally treated as split equally between you.
Attendance Allowance is also individual. If you are over State Pension age and both of you need help because of an illness or disability, each partner can claim in their own right, and it is not means tested. Where one partner is the main carer, it is worth checking whether Carer's Allowance or a carer's assessment applies too.
These rules are set nationally but applied by each council, so always confirm the details with your own council or the official guidance linked below.
It starts with a free home visit. A care manager meets you both, together and separately if you prefer, because the partner who is coping often has concerns they would rather not voice in front of the other.
We then write two care plans, agree one daily routine that suits the house, and introduce a carer before care begins so there are no strangers at the door. Plans are reviewed as needs change, which for couples they often do at different speeds.
When one partner becomes the other's carer, the relationship usually suffers before the care does. Bringing in support for the physically hardest and most intimate tasks lets a couple be a couple again rather than patient and nurse - which is frequently what families say made the biggest difference.
In many households, yes - where both sets of needs are compatible with one person's working time. Where they are not, we'll say so at assessment and propose an honest alternative.
That's very common. The plan covers the partner with needs, and the household support that comes with it takes pressure off the other.
For most couples, yes - one live-in fee against two placements. We'll model it in writing for your circumstances.
The plan is adjusted; we can support the partner at home and then help with the return. See our hospital discharge support.
Our core towns are Egham, Virginia Water, Ashford, Sunbury, Shepperton and Staines - see areas we cover.
We'll price a couples package properly, in writing - call 01784 740078 or request a free home visit.
We'll price a couples package properly, in writing - call 01784 740078 or request a free home visit.
