Making a Parent's Home Safer: The Complete Guide

The short answer

Ask for a free occupational therapy assessment firstYou do not need a GP referral in most areas. It costs nothing to ask, whatever your parent's income or savings, and it tells you what would help.
Most of what matters this week costs nothingMoving reachable items to a sensible height, taking up loose rugs and having a sensitive conversation about it all cost nothing and can be done today.
Small fixes are free, bigger ones are means-testedAdaptations under £1,000 that an occupational therapist recommends are fitted free, whatever your parent's income. A stairlift or a walk-in shower usually needs a Disabled Facilities Grant instead, worth up to £30,000 in England.
Needs often change fastest after a hospital stayComing home after a fall or an illness is when the case for more help, whether that is more equipment or a carer, usually becomes clear.

None of this replaces somebody seeing your parent often enough to notice a new hazard, a fall that has gone unmentioned, or a piece of equipment that has stopped being used. Where a daily visit is not possible, a companionship visit costs around £15 to £20 an hour on PrimeCarers, with our fee included.

Where to start

Ask for a free occupational therapy assessment before you buy anything

Every change on this page works better once somebody trained has looked at the house and at your parent, rather than been guessed at from a list of tips. That assessment is free, and it is the sensible first call whether the worry is a single grab rail or a full room of equipment.

1
Contact adult social services at the council
Free, any income
Ask for a home assessment, sometimes called a care needs assessment. In many areas you can refer yourself, by phone or online, without waiting for a GP appointment first.
2
An occupational therapist visits
Usually within a few weeks
They watch how your parent moves around the house and ask about the tasks that have become hard, then recommend the equipment and changes that would help, in the order that matters most.
3
Small items are loaned or fitted free
Whatever the income
Grab rails, a raised toilet seat and similar small adaptations recommended by the OT are provided at no cost if they cost under £1,000, regardless of your parent's savings.
4
Bigger work goes through a grant
Means-tested
A wet room, a stairlift or widening a doorway usually costs more than that and is instead covered by a Disabled Facilities Grant, covered under what is free and what is funded below.

A district nurse or GP can also arrange this if that is the route already open to your parent, for example after a hospital discharge, but it is worth knowing you do not have to wait for one. If the wider worry is trip hazards specifically, from loose rugs to poor lighting on the stairs, reducing fall and trip risks in the home has a full room-by-room walk-through to do either before this assessment or alongside it.

Free changes this week

What costs nothing, and how to raise it without a difficult conversation

Rearranging somebody else's home is a delicate thing to do, especially when it is a parent's home and the changes are a sign of their decline rather than just the furniture. Most of what helps most in the first week is free, and how you raise it matters as much as what you change.

Move what they use daily to a reachable shelf

Food, medicines, the kettle, mugs and everyday dishes are worth moving so nothing needs a step stool or a deep bend. Ask your parent what they reach for most before you move anything, rather than guessing.

Between waist and shoulder height

Have the conversation before you touch anything

Explain what you would like to change and why, in terms of what it would let them keep doing rather than what they can no longer manage. Being asked first, rather than presented with a change already made, lets your parent keep some say over their own home.

A few minutes, done well

Keep the house warm and check the cooker

A cold, damp house makes older people more prone to chest infections, and a cooker that has become hard to use safely is worth checking, alongside whether a microwave or an induction hob would be easier and safer day to day.

Ongoing, not one-off

A handful of cheap aids that add up

Corner protectors on a low table, sold cheaply for toddler-proofing, work just as well here. A modern kettle is usually lighter and easier to lift and pour than an older one, touch lights save fumbling for a switch in the dark, and Velcro-fastening shoes or slippers make dressing easier for anyone whose hands or bending have grown weaker.

A few pounds each, no assessment needed

Winter adds its own risks on top of all this: a cold home, a bad flu, dehydration that is easy to miss without a hot day to notice it. Surviving winter covers keeping an older relative warm, well and safe through the coldest months, including the signs of hypothermia and what help is available with heating costs.

Equipment worth knowing about

The equipment worth knowing about, and which needs an assessment first

Some of this is a simple, safe purchase. Some of it can injure the person it is meant to help if it is the wrong item, or the right item badly fitted, which is exactly what the occupational therapist's assessment is for.

Grab rail: A rail fixed to a solid wall, not a towel rail, positioned by an occupational therapist at the height and angle that suits how your parent moves. Usually free if it costs under £1,000.
Raised toilet seat: Reduces the distance needed to sit down and stand up. A small adaptation, usually loaned free once an occupational therapist has assessed the room.
Walking frame: Bought over the counter from a pharmacy or mobility shop with no assessment needed for a simple frame, though a physiotherapist can advise on the right type if your parent is unsteady on one side.
Profiling bed: A bed that raises at the head and knees to help someone sit up, usually paired with a pressure-relieving mattress. Arranged by an occupational therapist or district nurse and provided on loan.
Hoist: For someone who cannot weight-bear safely on their own. Needs an occupational therapist's assessment and training for whoever operates it, since using one without training can injure both people involved.
Bath lift or bath board: Helps with lowering into and raising out of the bath. The bigger items are worth an occupational therapist's advice on fit, though a non-slip mat is a sensible buy either way.

The right equipment to aid the elderly goes room by room through what an occupational therapist typically arranges, what you can safely buy yourself without waiting for anyone, and how a wheelchair works differently through the separate NHS wheelchair service.

The bathroom

Why the bathroom is worth tackling early, and the walk-in bath question

Water on a hard floor, a high bath edge and very little to hold onto make the bathroom one of the rooms where a serious fall is most likely to start, and one where the right equipment makes a real difference.

Getting in and out safely

A wall-fixed grab rail next to the bath or shower and a non-slip mat inside it cover the two moments most bathroom falls happen: stepping over the edge and standing on a wet surface.

The highest-risk moment

The toilet, often overlooked

A raised seat with a rail beside it makes standing up far less of an effort, and is a small adaptation that is usually fitted free once an occupational therapist has assessed the room.

Usually a free adaptation

A walk-in bath or level-access shower

Worth considering once getting over the edge of the bath has become the main obstacle to washing safely. This is building work rather than a simple fitting, so it is worth planning alongside any other bathroom changes.

A bigger, considered purchase

A wet room for more severe mobility loss

A fully level, waterproofed room is the option worth discussing with the occupational therapist once a walk-in bath would no longer be enough on its own.

Usually a Disabled Facilities Grant job

Walk-in baths for the elderly sets out what to check before buying one privately, including the running costs and the questions worth asking a supplier before you commit.

Extra help around the house

Cleaners, gardeners, neighbours and a spare key: help that is not a carer

Some of what keeps a parent safe at home has nothing to do with equipment. A cleaner, a tidy garden and a neighbour who knows to check in cover jobs a paid carer would not usually be booked for, and they are worth arranging on their own.

Practical help worth arranging

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Around the house

A cleaner for the jobs decreased mobility makes hardChanging a bed or washing sheets is often the first task that becomes difficult, well before personal care is needed.
A gardener to keep paths clear and bushes cut backAn overgrown path is a trip hazard in its own right, and an untidy front garden can make a house look like nobody is keeping an eye on it.
A council handyperson service for small jobs like a garden handrailWhere one exists locally, a Home Improvement Agency or Care & Repair scheme fits small items such as a handrail on a sloped path at a low cost. Coverage varies by area, so it is worth asking the council whether a local scheme operates nearby.

Staying in touch

A neighbour who knows to check in, and how to reach youSimple and free, and often the first person to notice if something is wrong on an ordinary day.
A simple phone with speed-dial, large buttons and a loud ringerA specialised mobile or landline handset like this is a one-off purchase that saves your parent hunting for a number or straining to hear it ring, worth having alongside a personal alarm rather than instead of one.
A key safe, so a carer, a neighbour or a paramedic can get inFixed to a solid wall, with a code shared only with people who need it. Worth having before it is needed, not after.
A personal alarm for pressing in an emergencyConnects to a monitoring centre that checks in by voice and then contacts a nominated person or the emergency services, so help does not depend on your parent reaching a phone.

Care & Repair England is a national charity that helps people find a local handyperson or Home Improvement Agency scheme, which is worth knowing about even where it does not operate directly. Keeping their home secure covers key safes, personal alarms, door security and doorbell cameras in full, including what to look for so a key safe or alarm is not simply an easier way in for the wrong person.

What is free and what is funded

From a free change to a means-tested grant, in four steps

Nearly everything in this guide sits somewhere on the same ladder, from something you can do this afternoon for nothing to building work that needs a grant. Knowing which step something is on saves a lot of confused phone calls.

1Changes you make yourselfFreeArranged by: You, this weekMoving everyday items to a reachable shelfTaking up loose rugsTucking away cablesA lamp within reach of the bed
2Equipment loaned after an assessmentFree, whatever their incomeArranged by: An occupational therapistA raised toilet seatA wall-fixed grab railA walking frameA profiling bed
3Minor building adaptationsFree if the job costs under £1,000Arranged by: The council, once an OT recommends itA second stair railA door threshold rampOutdoor step repairsA garden handrail
4Major adaptationsUp to £30,000, means-testedArranged by: A Disabled Facilities GrantA level-access shower or wet roomA stairliftA ground-floor extensionWidening a doorway

A Disabled Facilities Grant in England is worth up to £30,000 and is means-tested against your parent's household income and any savings over £6,000, so what they receive can be less than the maximum. The council has to be satisfied the work is necessary for your parent's needs and reasonable for the property before approving it, and work should not start before that approval is given or the grant can be lost. Local authority funding explains how the wider council assessment and funding process works if money for ongoing care, not just equipment, is also part of the conversation, and GOV.UK's Disabled Facilities Grants page has the current application details for England.

When needs increase

When the changes are not enough: hospital discharge and bringing in a carer

A fall, an illness or a hospital stay is often the point at which everything above stops being enough on its own, and the question becomes whether your parent needs somebody there rather than just something fitted.

Signs it is time to look beyond equipment

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After a hospital stay

Discharged with new mobility problems, or told to avoid stairs for a whileThis is often when moving a bed downstairs, or arranging a commode, first comes up, and it is worth planning before the discharge date rather than on the day.
Medication changed or addedA carer visiting at the right times helps make sure new tablets are taken as prescribed while your parent adjusts.

Day to day

Personal care, such as washing or dressing, has become hard to manage aloneThis usually means a carer rather than more equipment, since equipment helps someone do a task themselves, and personal care is help doing it.
You are the one checking in every day and finding it hard to keep upHanding some of the daily visits to a carer often gives a family carer back time and peace of mind, without it meaning your parent is being handed over.

If a hospital stay is what has brought this on, what to do when the person you care for is leaving hospital covers the days that matter most around a discharge. Hourly care explains what a daily visit looks like in practice, and companionship care covers visits built around company rather than personal care.

Questions

Questions families ask about making a home safer

Ask adult social services at the council for a free occupational therapy assessment. In many areas you can refer yourself without waiting for a GP. It costs nothing regardless of income, and it tells you what would help before you spend anything.

Usually not. Most councils let you self-refer to adult social services directly, by phone or online, and an occupational therapist will arrange a home visit from there. A GP or district nurse can also start the process, which is worth knowing if that route is already open, for example after a hospital stay.

Often, yes. Small adaptations an occupational therapist recommends, such as a grab rail or a raised toilet seat, are fitted free if they cost under £1,000, whatever your parent's income or savings. Bigger work, such as a walk-in shower or a stairlift, usually needs a Disabled Facilities Grant instead.

Up to £30,000 in England. It is means-tested against your parent's household income and any savings over £6,000, so what they receive can be less than the maximum. Your parent needs to own the property or hold a tenancy, and the council must approve the work as necessary and reasonable before it starts.

Equipment such as a grab rail, a raised toilet seat or a walking frame is usually loaned or fitted free by the council once an occupational therapist recommends it, whatever your parent's income. A Disabled Facilities Grant is for structural building work, a wet room or a stairlift for example, that costs more than the free threshold and is assessed against household finances.

It depends on how much getting over the edge of an ordinary bath has become the problem. A grab rail and bath board are cheaper and can often be assessed and fitted quickly, while a walk-in bath is a bigger, considered purchase worth planning alongside other bathroom changes. Walk-in baths for the elderly sets out what to check before buying one.

A cleaner or a gardener covers many of the jobs that become hard first, well before personal care is needed, and a neighbour who knows to check in costs nothing at all. A companionship visit a few times a week is a step up from that if company and an extra pair of eyes would help too.

Once personal care such as washing or dressing has become hard to manage alone, or you are the one checking in every day and struggling to keep up. Equipment helps someone do a task themselves; a carer helps with the task directly. An hourly care visit costs around £18 to £25 an hour on PrimeCarers, with our fee included.

Start with changes that do not look like changes: moving a shelf, a modern kettle, a lamp within reach of the bed. These do not ask your parent to accept they are less able than they were, and they cover much of the everyday risk. A small change that has already worked gives you something concrete to point to when you raise the bigger ones, a grab rail or a stairlift, next.

Everything that makes their home safer