Introduction
Specialist care, in the context of domiciliary care, refers to care which provides personalised, expert support for individuals with complex needs such as long-term health conditions, delivered within the comfort of one’s own home.
As such, specialist care goes beyond simple hourly (or visiting) care and offers service users with complex needs individualised, person-centred solutions, tailored to meet their specific needs.
Specialist care is often provided in the context of care provision for specific conditions such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis, in addition to after specific neurological events (i.e. stroke recovery), to address the unique needs posed by these service users and the challenges they face.
What is Specialist Care?
Specialist care, as a framework within the field of domiciliary care, is provided by expert caregivers who are highly trained and experienced in handling complex care situations, in particular the conditions which the service user presents with requiring specialist care.
In addition to general training in handling complex care situations, such as personal care, medication management/administration, and meal preparation, specialist carers undergo training relating to specific conditions, which service users that they are assigned to work with present with.
For example, the Alzheimer’s Society provides expert dementia training services, both in-person and online; the MS Society provides specialist training about multiple sclerosis for care workers and other care professionals.
At Tidal Living, we work with relevant institutes to provide specialist training in the management of complex needs, including long-term cognitive conditions such as Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, to our care workers and other staff working at Tidal Living.
Specialist care encompasses a wide range of services, ranging from personal care such as dressing up/getting ready and meal preparation to providing service users with access to specialised equipment and resources, in addition to coordinating with other healthcare professionals.
Benefits of Specialist Care
The main benefit of specialist care is that it provides service users with targeted care and support for specific medical conditions they present with, which directly addresses the conditions they live with and the unique care requirements that service users pose with (as a result of such, or otherwise).
Secondly, specialist care provides targeted, relevant education and support to families of service users with complex needs about the condition(s) they live with, helping to raise awareness about these conditions, as well as providing practical advice to families to ensure that they feel confident in themselves as caregivers and thus co-participants in the process of care delivery.
As such, support and interventions in specialist care are tailored to service users, and the specialist carers who provide specialist care to service users have the appropriate knowledge and skills to manage complex conditions and other presenting complex needs effectively. This includes regular, close monitoring of service users by specialist carers, enabling them to detect changes early on and act promptly when concerning changes are detected in a service users’ situation (e.g. deterioration, or prodromal symptoms of illness).
By managing presenting complex needs directly on a personalised, tailored basis, specialist care can facilitate retention of independence in day-to-day life, thereby enhancing service users’ quality of life. Similarly to other forms of home care, specialist carers can provide companionship and facilitate social interactions for service users, reducing loneliness and preventing feelings of isolation, contributing positively to service users’ wellbeing.
Specialist care can, importantly, reduce the burden on families of vulnerable adults with complex needs, by providing professional, targeted expertise and support, thereby improving the wellbeing of the whole family by providing them with targeted, tailored support. In a nutshell, specialist care provides service users and their families with a holistic, person-centred approach which supports not only individuals but also their families and loved ones, facilitating a balanced, harmonious home environment for all involved.
