• By Daniel Smith
• Published 04/17/2012

With age, an individual may lose the ability to handle simple tasks related to personal and health care. In such a situation, it is the responsibility of the family members and near ones to arrange the necessary care. However, it is often difficult for the family members to provide companionship and care that an elderly individual requires due to lack of time or skills. It becomes essential to find a solution in such a situation.

You may choose a service offering care for the elderly to solve this problem. A qualified, trained and experienced caregiver would be able to handle the personal and health care needs of the elderly individual without any problem. He/she would also be able to handle the household chores, if necessary. Before you start looking for such caregiver agencies, here is a look at the steps involved in choosing elderly care services.

At the initial stage, it is necessary to consider a number of care services. This would help you compare services and costs and determine which would be the right one for taking care of the elderly family member. After you select a few such services, get in touch with them and check out the available services. You may send this enquiry online or visit the services on your own as well.

The service would send care professionals for a proper assessment of needs. These professionals would analyse the physical and psychological health of the elderly individual, the family circumstances, the financial condition, and such other factors when assessing the care needs. The service would be able to create a care plan depending on this detailed assessment of the needs of the elderly individual.

It is necessary to understand the care plan before you agree to it. At times, all that an elderly individual needs is companionship. In such a circumstance, all that the plan needs to include are services like spending time with the elderly individual or walking their dog with them. However, in other cases, the elderly individual may need round the clock personal and health care. Make sure the plan corresponds to the needs.

Another consideration is the financial aspect. When the service offering home help Ireland creates a care plan for an elderly individual, they need to offer details of the costs associated with this as well. Different services may work at different rates. It is essential to get an idea about the details of the charges for the care services before you appoint a particular agency.

The agency finds the right caregiver to suit the care needs of the elderly individual. For this, they need to match the qualification, training and experience of the caregiver with the care needs of the elderly individual. Moreover, the care agency also needs to make sure that the personality of the caregiver is compatible to that of the elderly individual for whom he/she provides the necessary care services.

A competent care agency would also supervise the caregiver and the quality of the services he/she provides for the elderly individuals. This may include scheduled and unscheduled visits by a supervisor at the home of the elderly individual to check whether the caregiver is providing the necessary services.

Author Bio

Daniel Smith has long being associated with a service offering home help elderly. If you were looking for such services offering Galway carefor the elderly individuals, he suggests you to visit http://www.comfortkeepers.ie/for more details.