The short answer
- It is an umbrella term, not one serviceElderly care covers everything from an hour of help at home to full-time nursing. The right word for your situation depends on what is needed.
- It happens on a spectrum of settingsFrom occasional visits at home, through live-in care, to a residential or nursing care home, and end-of-life care when that is what is needed.
- The point is safety, daily tasks and companyGood elderly care helps with what has become hard to do alone, keeps someone safe, and stops isolation setting in, wherever it happens.
- A free council assessment settles what is neededA care needs assessment looks at what your relative can and cannot do and puts a name to the right kind of help.
Where a price is useful, figures are what carers on PrimeCarers charge, £18 to £25 an hour with our fee included, or from £1,050 a week for live-in care.
What the word covers
Elderly care is a catch-all term, not a single service
In the broadest sense, elderly care covers any support that helps an older person manage the parts of daily life that have become difficult, whether that support comes from family, a paid carer, the NHS or a care home.
That can mean a carer calling in once a day to help someone get washed and dressed. It can mean a carer living in the house day and night. It can mean moving into a care home where meals, washing and company are all provided, with or without a nurse on site. All of it sits under the same broad heading, and the terms below are the ones you are likely to come across while working out which of them applies to your family.
Words you will see used for the same thing, or close to it
- Elderly care, senior care, aged care
- Different names for the same idea: support for an older person who needs help with health, daily tasks or company. None is more official than the others.
- Adult social care
- The term the government, councils and the Care Quality Commission use. It covers personal care, care homes and other support for daily living, and it is what a council department is called if you need to contact one.
- Personal care
- The hands-on tasks: washing, dressing, using the toilet, eating. This is the core of most home care visits and most care home support.
- Domiciliary care, home care
- Care delivered in someone’s own home rather than in a care home, whether that is a short visit or a carer living in.
- Care needs assessment
- A free assessment by the council that looks at what someone can and cannot manage alone and decides what help fits, and whether they qualify for any funding towards it.
If your relative's situation is changing and you are not sure any of these labels fit yet, how to care for elderly parents is a fuller start-to-finish overview, and how do you tell someone they need care? covers the conversation that usually comes before any of this.
Where it happens
The settings elderly care happens in, and what each one costs
Underneath the different words is a fairly simple range, running from a short visit at home through to full-time nursing. Most families move along it gradually rather than jumping straight to the far end.
A few hours a week, at home
Hourly care
£18–£25 an hourA carer visits at set times to help with washing, dressing, meals or medication, then leaves. Most families start here.
Daytime sessions, away from home
Adult day care
Varies by centre, often council-subsidisedA day centre picks someone up, keeps them busy with company, activities and a hot lunch, then brings them home. It gives a family carer a break without a bigger commitment.
Day and night, at home
Live-in care
From £1,050 a weekA carer moves into a spare room and is there around the clock, so nights are covered as well as days.
A shared home, no nursing
Residential care
From £1,160 a weekHelp with all personal care, meals and company, day and night, in a care home without a nurse on site.
A shared home, with nursing
Nursing care
From £1,410 a weekThe same as residential care, plus a qualified nurse on site for a condition that needs ongoing medical attention.
Focused on comfort, near the end of a serious illness
Hospice and end-of-life care
Often NHS or hospice-charity fundedSupport at home, in a hospice or in a care home, focused on comfort rather than treating the illness itself.
Moving from one row to the next is rarely a single decision. Most families add an hour here and a visit there as needs grow, and a day centre is often the first thing tried once a family carer needs a regular break, before anyone is ready for a carer at home or a move. A care home is usually only considered seriously once the hours at home stop covering what is needed, or a spare room and a live-in carer stop being enough. Elderly care living options sets out that choice in more detail, and care at home or a care home weighs the two directly against each other, including what each keeps and what each gives up.
What it is meant to do
Whatever form it takes, elderly care is meant to do four things
Whatever setting it happens in, families look for care for the same reasons: to help with what has become hard alone, to keep someone safe, to stop isolation, and to back up a family who cannot do it all. Almost every arrangement, from an hourly visit to full-time nursing, is there to do one or more of these.
Help with what has become hard to do alone
Keep someone safe
Stop isolation setting in
Back up a family who cannot do it all
None of that depends on where the care happens. A carer visiting for an hour and a nurse in a care home are both trying to do the same four things, just for someone at a different point in what they need.
Working out what fits
From this page to the right kind of help
You do not have to work out the right label on your own. A few steps get most families to a clear answer within a couple of weeks.
- 1
Write down what has changed
TodayNote what your relative can no longer manage alone, and when it started. This is the starting point for any assessment or conversation with a carer. - 2
Ask the council for a care needs assessment
FreeA social worker or occupational therapist looks at what your relative can and cannot do and writes an assessment of what would help. It is free and does not depend on income, though what the council contributes towards the cost does. Local authority funding sets out how that works. - 3
Decide between staying at home and moving
This weekMost families prefer home care for as long as it covers the need, and move towards a care home once it stops being enough or safe. Care at home or a care home compares the two directly. - 4
If home care fits, look at carers near you
Free to searchSearch carers by postcode and see their rate, experience and reviews. Every carer has interviewed online, and their identity, right to work and an enhanced DBS check on the Update Service are checked before they appear on PrimeCarers, an introductory service that connects you directly with them. Find a carer.
If cost is the main thing holding up a decision, cost of care and the care cost calculator put real figures against each option for where you live.
Questions
Questions families ask about what elderly care means
Broadly, yes. "Elderly care" is the everyday phrase families use; "adult social care" is the term the government, councils and the Care Quality Commission use for the same support. If you are searching a council website or looking for a formal assessment, "adult social care" is the phrase that will get you there.
Both are care homes offering help with personal care, meals and company, day and night. A nursing care home also has a qualified nurse on site for a condition that needs ongoing medical attention, such as complex health needs after a stroke. Nursing care costs more: care homes without nursing average around £1,160 a week in England, against around £1,410 a week with nursing.
Ultimately the family, often alongside the person’s GP, but a council care needs assessment is the formal route to an answer. A social worker or occupational therapist assesses what someone can and cannot manage and writes it down, which also opens the door to means-tested funding if savings are below £23,250. How to ask for one.
No. Most people who need help start with visits at home, and many never move further than that. A care home usually only becomes the better option once the hours of home care needed would cost more than a care home place, or once safety at home can no longer be managed with visits alone.
It depends entirely on the setting and the hours involved. An occasional visit at home costs £18 to £25 an hour on PrimeCarers, live-in care starts from £1,050 a week, and a care home averages around £1,160 to £1,410 a week depending on whether nursing is needed. The cost of care guide breaks all of this down further.
Elderly care is the broad term for any support an older person needs. End-of-life care is a specific kind of it, for someone nearing the end of a serious illness, focused on comfort rather than on treating the illness. It can happen at home, in a hospice or in a care home. End of life care covers it in full.