Coming home after a stroke, with the right hands

A carer can help with the hours between therapy visits: transfers and the bathroom done the way the physio has shown that carer, meals at the texture the speech therapist set, reminders for tablets, help with the daily exercise sheet, walking practice, and getting out of the house. With the same carer each time, they learn what a good day looks like. The recovery phases.

Most recovery happens in the first six months, with the fastest gains in the first weeks. Improvement can continue for years with practice, and some changes are permanent. Care is heaviest in the first weeks and usually eases as independence returns. What changes in each phase.

Usually daily visits, morning and evening, for personal care, meals and medication, and often a sleeping-night carer for the first weeks while transfers are unsafe. Hourly visits are £18 to £25 an hour and a sleeping night from £160. Leaving hospital: what to arrange.

Yes, and it is one of the most useful things they do. Therapists set the programme; they are not there every day. A carer who does the exercises with the person daily, and keeps notes for the therapist, is the difference between a plan on paper and progress.

Dysphagia is common and dangerous, because food or drink going into the lungs causes chest infections. The speech and language therapist assesses and sets the diet: thickened fluids, soft or pureed food, sitting upright, small mouthfuls. A carer should follow that plan exactly and stay with the person through each meal. Coughing or a wet voice at meals is a reason to call the therapist or GP the same day; choking, struggling to breathe or turning blue is a 999 call.

Often the right answer where someone cannot be left alone or a partner cannot manage transfers. Live-in care starts from £1,050 a week. Where the day includes hoisting, or tasks a nurse has delegated such as PEG feeding, carers usually charge more, from about £1,260. We do not check training for these tasks: the nurse or therapist trains and signs off the carer for this person, and the insurance we arrange does not cover clinical procedures. It is one-to-one, and for a couple it keeps them together. Live-in care.

Take the medication every day, keep blood pressure under control, cut salt and alcohol, move daily, stop smoking, and know FAST. A carer who prompts tablets, takes blood pressure readings if the GP has asked for them, cooks and walks with them helps with most of that list. The prevention checklist.

Attendance Allowance (over State Pension age) or PIP (under it) are not means-tested and are for the help needed, not the diagnosis. Council funding follows a needs and financial assessment. NHS Continuing Healthcare can fund everything where needs are mainly health-related, which after a severe stroke they sometimes are. Funding explained.

Any new face droop, arm weakness or speech difficulty (FAST), sudden severe headache, sudden loss of vision, or a fall with a head injury. That means 999 rather than the GP or the stroke team, and any carer you book should know to do the same.

Carers are self-employed and list the conditions they have experience with on their profile, with reviews from families. You choose the carer and interview them for free, so you can ask about strokes, transfers and swallowing directly. What we check, and what we don’t.