Personal care
Help with the private things, done with dignity
Washing, dressing, the bathroom, medication and getting out of bed. These are the tasks nobody wants to need help with, and they are done by the same vetted carer each visit, at the person’s own pace in their own bathroom.
3,500+ vetted carers across the UK
Wondering what it involves? See what a carer does, task by task
What personal care covers
Six things, and how a good carer does each one
Personal care is the help that touches the body. The tasks are ordinary; the way they are done is what separates a carer someone dreads from one they look forward to.
Washing and bathing
What the carer does
A strip wash at the sink, a shower with a seat and a hand-held head, or a bath with a board or lift. Hair washed, nails kept, skin checked for sore spots and moisturised.
How dignity is kept
The carer talks through each step before doing it, keeps a towel over whatever is not being washed, and does the intimate parts last and fastest. The person chooses the water temperature and the order.
What they watch for
Red patches on heels, hips and the base of the spine. A carer who washes someone sees skin nobody else does.
Dressing and grooming
What the carer does
Clothes laid out in the order they go on. Help with buttons, bras, tights and shoes. Shaving, teeth or dentures, hair brushed, a bit of make-up if that is who they are.
How dignity is kept
They choose the outfit. The carer holds a sleeve open rather than pushing an arm into it. Looking like yourself in the mirror is most of what dignity means.
What they watch for
Shoes that no longer fit swollen feet, or a belt on a new hole. Both are early warnings.
Toileting and continence
What the carer does
A steadying arm to the bathroom, help with clothing and wiping, changing pads, cleaning and creaming skin, emptying a commode or catheter bag, keeping the bathroom stocked.
How dignity is kept
The carer is matter of fact about it, with no fuss and no reaction. They treat it as ordinary, because it is. Accidents are dealt with and not mentioned again.
What they watch for
Going more often, burning, cloudy urine: a urine infection in an older person often shows first as confusion. The carer will tell you.
Medication
What the carer does
Prompting at the right time, opening blister packs and bottles, watching the dose go down, applying creams and eye drops, and writing down what was taken.
How dignity is kept
It is a reminder, not a nag. The person still takes their own tablets where they can; the carer makes sure it happened.
What they watch for
Full packs on a Friday or empty ones by Tuesday. Either one gets reported back to the family and the GP.
Getting up and about
What the carer does
Help out of bed and out of the chair, transfers with a frame, a turntable or a hoist, walking alongside, stairs one at a time, and repositioning in bed to protect skin.
How dignity is kept
The carer moves at the person’s pace rather than the clock’s, and nobody is hauled out of a chair. A fall on the way to the bathroom is the thing all of this is designed to prevent.
What they watch for
A new reluctance to stand, or holding onto furniture. Carers spot the change in gait before the fall.
Meals and drinks
What the carer does
Breakfast, lunch, tea. Cutting up food, a plate guard, a lidded cup, sitting with them while they eat, and a jug of squash within reach before the carer leaves.
How dignity is kept
They eat what they like at the table, not a tray on their lap. Sitting with someone while they eat is care, not idling.
What they watch for
Meals left half-eaten and weight coming off. Dehydration and not eating enough are behind a lot of hospital admissions.
Injections, catheter changes and other clinical tasks need a trained carer or a nurse. Where the line is.
Why one carer
The same person every time is the whole point
Personal care is intimate. Whoever does it is in the bathroom with someone at their most exposed. The biggest single difference between care that is tolerated and care that is welcomed is whether that person is familiar.
You do not undress for a stranger twice
With an agency rota, the person can meet a new carer every few days and go through the whole thing again. One carer means the awkwardness happens once.
They learn the small things
They learn which side to start on, that the left shoulder hurts, and that the radio goes on before the shower rather than after. None of that is in a care plan, and all of it matters.
They notice change
They remember the skin that looked fine last Tuesday, and the step that is slower than it was. You cannot see a change if you never saw how things were before.
You choose the person
You can choose a carer of the same sex if that matters, someone who speaks their language, or someone whose manner suits them. You interview them for free before anything is booked.
The first visit
How the first morning goes
Most people’s worry is the first time. Here is what it looks like, so nobody is surprised on either side of the bathroom door.
- Before
You have already met
You chose the carer from their profile and interviewed them by phone, video or in person. The person receiving care has seen the face that is coming.
- Arrival
A cup of tea first
The carer does not walk in and start washing anyone. They sit down, have a cup of tea and find out how the person likes things done. The care plan you wrote is the starting point, not a script.
- The routine
Their order, their pace
Washing, dressing, breakfast, medication, in whatever sequence the person is used to. The carer asks before each step and explains what they are doing.
- The house
Tidy behind them
Bathroom wiped down, laundry in, bed made, kitchen straight. The person is left dressed, fed, medicated and in their chair with a drink in reach.
- After
A note for you
What was eaten, how the skin looked, anything that seemed different. Families who are not there every day get the shape of the visit in a few lines.
What it costs
Priced by the hour, from one hour a visit
£20/hour
Carers set their own rates and most sit between £18 and £25 an hour with our fee included. Personal care sits in the middle of that range. Shifts of six hours or more are usually about £18 an hour, and a live-in carer, where the help is needed all day, starts from £1,050 a week.
£140
a week, every day
A morning visit
One hour: up, wash, dress, breakfast, medication
£280
a week, every day
Morning and evening
Two one-hour visits: getting up, and getting to bed
£90
a week, 1.5 hours each
Three mornings a week
A proper wash and hair on the days family cannot
£1,190
a week, visits plus every night
Nights as well
A sleeping night carer for the bathroom trips
Typical rates. Attendance Allowance, which is not means-tested, is designed for exactly this kind of help and covers most of a morning visit a day.
Care for a condition
If there is a diagnosis, start there
The type of care follows from what the person needs, and what they need often follows from a condition. Each of these guides explains what a carer does day to day for it, and when needs tend to change.
How it works
From “something has to change” to a carer at the door
No assessment visits, no waiting list. Some families are talking to a carer the same day.
Search your postcode
See the carers who cover it, with photos, rates, experience and reviews. Filter by hourly, live-in or overnight.
Talk to the ones you like
Message them directly, or tell us what you need and we can suggest some carers to look at. The choice is always yours.
Meet before deciding
A call, a video chat or a visit, free and with no commitment. A lot of families have a good idea within the first ten minutes.
Book, and change it as needs change
Contract, insurance and payment run through us. You can add visits, add nights, or move to live-in care as things change, and you only pay for care that happens.
Safety first
Someone coming into their home? We take that seriously.
Letting a carer into the home of someone you love takes trust. We've built every layer of protection so that trust is earned, not assumed.
Vetting that never stops
Enhanced DBS, ID and right-to-work checks and an online interview before a carer appears, then continuous DBS monitoring for as long as they work. We check that a carer is caring; their skills and training are for you to check with them.
Insured and above board
Every visit is insured, contracted and paid securely online after care happens. There is no cash and no informal arrangement to manage.
A real person who knows you
Your own account manager and a UK support team who know you, your carer and your situation, not a call centre script.
Help when plans change
If your carer is unwell or away, our team will always do their best to find you vetted cover at short notice.
What clients say
Our Latest Carer Reviews
Margaret N
"Excellent - Lovely lady. My mother is so pleased with the work she does in helping her."
Read the full review
Julia S
"Julia is a highly skilled and companionate carer who is able to give so much of herself and adapt to any situation."
Read the full review
Andres Felipe C
"My son who he is caring for automatically welcomed Andres and can be heard laughing & having fun with Andres."
Read the full reviewQuestions families ask
Personal care, answered
Personal care is help with the things that touch the body: washing and bathing, dressing, using the toilet and managing continence, medication, getting up and moving about, and eating and drinking. It is the care people most need and least want to ask for. What is personal care, in full.
It is needed when washing, dressing or the bathroom have become unsafe, or are not happening at all. The signs are clothes worn for days, a smell, a fall in the shower, or a family member who is doing it and finding it too much. When personal care is needed.
£18 to £25 an hour on PrimeCarers, typically £20, with our fee included. A one-hour morning visit every day is about £140 a week. Where help is needed through the day, a live-in carer starts from £1,050 a week. The cost of care.
Yes. You choose one carer and they come each visit. With an agency you can get whoever is on the rota. For personal care, familiarity is most of what makes it bearable. Why one carer.
Yes. You see every carer’s profile before you contact them, so you can choose someone of the same sex, someone who speaks their language, or someone whose manner suits them, and interview them for free.
This is very common. It is about dignity and control, not the water. Start with something less intimate (hair, feet, a shave), let them choose the carer, keep the same person, and let the carer take it slowly. Most people come round within a few visits. Adjusting to receiving care.
They can prompt, open packets, watch the dose being taken and record it, and apply creams and drops. Injections and other clinical tasks need training or a nurse. Can home carers give medication?
Carers trained in moving and handling can, with the equipment in place. Ask on their profile or at interview. Nobody should be lifting a person by hand. What carers are not allowed to do.
Yes. Many carers on PrimeCarers work with adults under 65 with physical disabilities, and some specialise in it. Say what you need in the search and you will see who has that experience. Personal care for disabled adults.
Attendance Allowance is for exactly this: help with personal care for people over State Pension age, and it is not means-tested. Councils fund care after an assessment. Funding explained.
Guides
Read next
Ten guides on personal care, and the pages families read alongside them.
- What is personal care?
- When is personal care needed?
- A day in the life of a personal carer
- Adjusting to receiving care
- Discussing carers with your family
- Building a relationship with your carer
- The benefits of hiring a personal carer
- Personal care for disabled adults
- Healthy living with a carer’s help
- Providing for your carer
- Bathing and toileting an elderly parent
- Can home carers give medication?
- What carers are not allowed to do
- Hourly care
- The cost of care
- Carer shopping cards compared
- Finding a carer who drives
- Carer car insurance
- Live-in care
- Disability care
- Caring for a parent
- MS care
- Health conditions
Someone they will be glad to see at the door
See the carers near you, read what other families say about them, and talk to the ones you like before deciding anything.