Post-operative care
Home from hospital, with someone there for the first weeks
The ward said they could go home if someone was there. A vetted carer can cover the first nights, the washing and dressing, the medication and the physio sheet, and taper off as they get back on their feet.
3,500+ vetted carers, often able to start within days
If the discharge is tomorrow, call 0203 369 3624 and we will look for you today.
The first six weeks
What needs help, what a carer does, and when to ring the GP
Recovery after an operation tends to follow a shape. The first nights are the risky ones and the first week is the sore one, and the weeks after that are about not overdoing it. It helps if the care follows the same curve.
The first 48 hours · Day 1 to 2
Getting home, and getting through the first night
What usually needs help
- Someone to collect them: hospitals will not discharge after sedation or a general anaesthetic to an empty house or a taxi alone
- Help up the steps, into the house and into a chair or bed
- Pain relief on time, and knowing which tablets are new
- A first meal, fluids, and the bathroom without a fall
Not a carer’s job: call the GP or 111
Call 111 or the ward number on the discharge letter for bleeding that soaks a dressing, chest pain, breathlessness, a calf that is hot and swollen, or a temperature over 38. None of those should be left to see how it goes.
What a carer does
Collects or meets them at home, settles them in, sets up the medication for the day, cooks something they will eat, and stays. Many families book a sleeping night for the first two nights so nobody is alone if the pain relief wears off at 3am.
Sleeping nights plus daytime visits
nights from £130, visits £18–£25 an hour
The first week · Day 3 to 7
Sore, tired, and not allowed to do much
What usually needs help
- Washing and dressing around a wound, a cast or a hip that must not bend
- Meals, shopping, laundry and the bins, because lifting is not allowed yet
- Getting the exercises done that the physio sent them home with
- Watching the wound and the temperature, and the mood
Not a carer’s job: call the GP or 111
Ring the GP or the ward for a wound that is redder, hotter or weeping, new confusion in an older person, being sick and unable to keep fluids down, or pain that is getting worse rather than better.
What a carer does
A morning visit for washing, dressing and breakfast, an evening visit for a meal and medication, and the physio sheet done together in between. The carer keeps a simple note of pain, temperature and what was eaten, which is what the GP asks about if something changes.
Morning and evening visits
£18–£25 an hour
Weeks two to six · Week 2 to 6
Recovery, and the slow return of independence
What usually needs help
- Fewer visits, but the right ones: the physio, the follow-up appointment, the shops
- Building strength without overdoing it
- Eating enough, which older people often stop doing when they are tired
- Knowing when help can stop, and when it should carry on
Not a carer’s job: call the GP or 111
Ask the GP or the surgeon’s team if recovery stalls, a joint is stiffer at week four than week two, or there is a fall. Ask the district nurses about the wound if stitches or clips have not been removed on the planned day.
What a carer does
The visits taper, from every day, to most days, to a couple a week. The carer drives them to appointments, walks with them a little further each day, and is the one who notices if they are not recovering as expected. Many families keep one visit a week on afterwards.
Tapering visits
£18–£25 an hour, as few as one a week
Before they come home
Eight things to have sorted by the day of discharge
Discharge often comes with a few hours’ notice. Most of this can be done from the ward corridor with a phone.
- 01
The discharge letter, read
It lists medication changes, the follow-up date and who to ring. Photograph it; the carer needs it too.
- 02
Medication, sorted before the first dose
New tablets, stopped tablets, and pain relief timings written on one sheet. Blister packs take a week to arrange; ask the pharmacy before discharge.
- 03
A bed downstairs, or a plan for the stairs
After hip, knee, heart or abdominal surgery, stairs are the first thing to go wrong. Decide before they are home.
- 04
Equipment ordered
Raised toilet seat, commode, frame, perching stool. The hospital occupational therapist should order what is needed; ask what is coming and when.
- 05
Food in the fridge
Soft, easy meals in small amounts, such as soup, yoghurt and eggs. Nobody wants a roast on the second day.
- 06
Someone for the first two nights
This can be family, or a sleeping-night carer. The first nights are when pain relief runs out and falls happen.
- 07
The physio sheet, understood
Ask the physio to go through it with the person who will be doing it with them. Exercises not done are the commonest reason a joint replacement disappoints.
- 08
Reablement asked about
Ask the discharge team whether intermediate care or reablement applies. In England it is free for up to six weeks where it is offered.
Free care for up to six weeks: ask about it
In England, intermediate care and reablement, short-term support arranged by the hospital or council to help someone recover at home, is free for up to six weeks where it is offered. It is not means-tested. It is also not automatic: ask the discharge team before the person leaves the ward, because it is much harder to arrange afterwards.
It usually means a few short visits a day from a council or NHS team, for a limited time. Families often use a private carer alongside it for the nights, the gaps and the weeks after it ends. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own arrangements; ask the ward.
Longer-term help with paying: funding care at home.
By operation
What the recovery usually asks for
The surgeon’s instructions always come first. These notes are about the care side of it, and what families find they need help with.
Hip or knee replacement
Recovery takes six to twelve weeks. Hip precautions (no bending past ninety degrees) make washing, dressing and the toilet the hard part, and doing the physio twice a day is what decides the result.
Fractured hip after a fall
This is often the start of needing care for good, and confidence usually takes longer to come back than strength does. Expect to need help every day for the first month, and then to review it.
Heart surgery
There is no lifting and no driving, and the tiredness surprises people. Help with meals and the house matters, along with someone watching for breathlessness and swollen ankles.
Abdominal surgery
Moving, sitting and standing are all sore, and meals need to be small and frequent. Wound checks matter, and a carer often notices a change before the person does.
Cataracts and eye surgery
This is usually a day case. The difficulty is the drops, which have to go in four times a day, on time, for weeks, and by somebody who can see the bottle.
Cancer surgery
Recovery is often followed by treatment. A carer who is already known makes the chemotherapy weeks easier, and if it comes to end-of-life care later, it can be the same person.
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.
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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."
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Julia S
"Julia is a highly skilled and companionate carer who is able to give so much of herself and adapt to any situation."
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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
Care after an operation, answered
After a general anaesthetic or sedation, yes. Hospitals will not usually discharge someone to travel alone or to an empty house for the first night. A carer can collect them, or meet them at home and stay. More on this and whether a taxi counts.
Often within a day or two. Search to see who is free near you, or call 0203 369 3624 and we will look for you the same day. There is no premium for short notice. Emergency care.
The things the person cannot do yet: washing and dressing around a wound or a new hip, meals, medication on time, the physio exercises done together, lifts to follow-up appointments, and a sleeping night if nobody should be alone. They also keep an eye on the wound, the temperature and the mood and say when it is time to ring the GP. The first six weeks, mapped.
Dressings, stitches and clips are the district nurses’ job, arranged by the hospital before discharge. A carer keeps the dressing clean and dry, notices if it needs changing sooner, and helps the person to the nurse appointment. Carers with nursing training exist for more complex wounds. Can you get live-in nurses?
Visits are £18 to £25 an hour, typically £20, with our fee included. A sleeping night is from £130. A common first week, morning and evening visits plus three sleeping nights, comes to about £670, and it tapers from there. The full cost guide.
In England, intermediate care or reablement, arranged by the hospital or council, is free for up to six weeks where it is offered, and is not means-tested. Ask the discharge team before leaving the ward. Many families use a private carer alongside it for nights and gaps, and afterwards. More in the checklist.
Most people need daily help for the first one to two weeks and less each week after that. A joint replacement is usually six to twelve weeks; a fractured hip in an older person often becomes ongoing care. Book the first two weeks and then review it. You are never tied in. Rehabilitation and convalescent care.
Some people prefer it. Most recover faster at home, with their own bed, their own food and their own routine, as long as the help is there for the first weeks. A live-in carer for a fortnight is the home version of convalescent care. Live-in care.
Read the discharge letter, sort the medication into one sheet, decide about the stairs, check the equipment has been ordered, fill the fridge, and have someone there for the first two nights. The full checklist.
Bleeding that soaks a dressing, chest pain, breathlessness, a hot swollen calf, a temperature over 38, new confusion, or being unable to keep fluids down. Ring 111 or the ward number on the letter for any of those; ring 999 for chest pain or severe breathlessness. Carers look and notice things, but they do not diagnose.
Guides
Read next
The five guides on coming home from hospital, and the pages families read alongside them.
- What to do when the person you care for is leaving hospital
- Do you need someone to take you home after surgery?
- Can you get a taxi home after sedation?
- How do you take care at home after surgery?
- Post-operative rehabilitation and convalescent care
- Emergency care that starts this week
- Overnight care
- Respite care once you are exhausted
- Home adaptations
- Can carers give medication?
- Help paying for care
- The full cost of care guide
Home is where people get better
See the carers near you who can start this week, with their experience, rates and reviews.