When circumstances change suddenly or you’re dealing with a stressful life event, emergency home care can provide urgent and much-needed support. Whether you or a loved one are recovering from an accident, dealing with a sudden illness or looking to replace an existing carer, emergency home carers can provide companionship and reassurance, as well as assistance with physical and medical needs. Curam’s experienced carers provide specialist support throughout the UK.
If you need to find a carer as soon as possible, emergency carers can provide the help you need in your own home. They can support you in numerous ways:
Provide respite care when existing carers are unavailable
Transport you home quickly and safely from the hospital
Provide post-hospital care during convalescence
Collect prescriptions and groceries after an accident
Provide companionship and ease anxiety when you’re recuperating
Assist with wound dressings and administer medications
How does emergency home care work?
Emergency care at home can take many different forms, depending on your needs. Types of emergency care include:
If you’re dealing with an accident, sudden illness, death in the family or other disruptive life event that means you require a new level of care, emergency home carers can help.
Emergency home care can come in the form of temporary respite care, or you can find a carer in order to build a long-term care relationship.
We understand your circumstances may change quickly. Curam’s carers can provide specialist support on short notice. Share your care needs with Curam to connect with an emergency carer.
Types of emergency home care
Home care is tailored to you. Carers on the Curam platform provide many different kinds of emergency home care:
Last-minute care in case of cancellation or sickness
Palliative and any other specialist care type needed, including care for couples, those with progressive disorders, those with dementia, following a hospital discharge or following a stroke
Live in care
Live in-care for 24/7 support
Hourly care
Hourly care according to their schedule
Overnight care
Overnight care, including both sleeping night and waking night care
Respite care
Respite care while your regular carer goes on holiday or suddenly unavailable
If you have pets, there are carers that can help to look after them. Many carers also drive their own vehicles and can help you with transport or accompany you as you need.
Responsibilities, duties and tasks of emergency home carer
A carer looks after the person needing care according to the tasks agreed in the service agreement. Some of the tasks that an hourly carer might normally carry out are:
Responsibilities of an emergency home carer will vary according to your needs but typically will include:
Personal care such as washing, dressing and continence care
Help with mobility and movement around the home
Assistance with and prompting to taking prescribed medicines
General domestic duties, including laundry, light cleaning, gardening and admin tasks
Help with cooking and meal preparation
Preventing and managing sundowning
Companionship and easing anxiety when you're recuperating
How it works?
Easy 3 step process to hire a carer of your choice.
1
Find
Personalise your search to find experienced carers near you Or Post your express CuramPlan to find carers that fit your immediate care needs
2
Meet
Video/audio call your chosen carer on CuramMeet or message them via the app.
3
Hire
Hire your insured and vetted carer via Curam.
Take the first step, share your post code to find emergency care near you
Costs of emergency home care
Our self-employed carers set their own rates on the Curam platform. The cost of emergency home care is often determined by the level of care required, the number of people needing care and the total hours per week. These rates can vary according to the carer’s experience and qualifications. If care is needed on very short notice, you may pay higher-than-usual rates for your care.
General costs
The average hourly care rate charged on Curam is £19.74 per hour, with rates starting at £13 an hour. The average live-in care rate charged on Curam is £1,127 per week, with rates starting at £850 a week. Rates vary depending on where you live in the UK. Emergency care on short notice may be more expensive than standard scheduled care.
Invoices are also subject to the Curam client fee of 10% and VAT. However, this client fee may be lower or waived for our business partners or those receiving local authority or NHS funding for their care. Please email client@curamcare.com to learn more about your costs with Curam.
Check average rates in your postcode
With Curam you pay less but your carer earns more
Please enter your postcode
Clients on the Curam platform pay on average 22% less than the
current suggested UK Home Care Association hourly rate of £25.95
How to pay for emergency home care?
You can pay for emergency home care privately, with assistance from the NHS or local authority, or from a combination of different sources.
If you’re seeking emergency respite care, learn more about how funding for respite care is determined.
Most people who pursue emergency home care at home will pay for it privately. However, you may be able to get funding to help pay for your care. There are three steps that you can follow to ensure that you receive all the money to which you are entitled:
If you still have difficulty funding your own care after checking the above services, you may consider other options such as equity release.
If you are trying to get a loved one out of hospital quickly your local trust client despatch team may agree to cover the cost of your carer for a number of weeks. You will need to speak to them directly as each trust operates to different rules which often change. According to the NHS, you might be eligible for local council support towards the cost of your social care if you have less than £23,250 in savings (called the upper capital limit, or UCL). From October 2023 this will rise to £100,000 in savings.
Exactly how much your council will pay depends on what care you need and how much you can afford to pay.
The first step is for your council to do an assessment to check how much help you need. This is called a needs assessment. The needs assessment is free and anyone can ask for one. Find out more about getting a needs assessment.
Some people with long-term complex health needs qualify for free social care arranged and funded solely by the NHS. This is known as NHS continuing healthcare.
However, NHS continuing healthcare is not suitable for those seeking to arrange emergency respite care. Carers looking to source respite care should contact their local council and complete a carer’s assessment for funding:
With Curam, you pay for care through a secure payment system on our app or website. Your carer of choice will create a service agreement and shift invoice, which will automatically be sent to your Curam account for your approval.
Once you have approved these, you will be taken to the payment portal. Your payment is held securely until the shift is completed and is then released to the carer two working days after the end of the shift, minus the Curam fee. Shift invoices typically cover one to two weeks of care at a time, but specific payment frequency can be agreed with your carer.
Off-platform and cash payments are not accepted. These are liable to a penalty fee of £2,000. Please see our terms and conditions for more information, specifically point 9.3.
Why choose Curam for emergency home care?
We know that hiring a carer is an emotionally charged decision, so we’ve done everything we can to make it as safe, seamless and stress-free as possible.
Choice is at the heart of Curam. By connecting carers and those who need care, we enable people to take control of their lives.
We’ve made it possible to hire a carer on short notice. In an emergency, you can share your needs with our carer community and get responses from vetted, available carers throughout the UK in minutes.
We are building a care community that allows each of us to live an independent life.
Experts and experience
Curam is a community of experts. Every carer on Curam's platform has been interviewed and fully vetted by our recruitment team. They have had a DBS check, are legally entitled to work in the UK and any qualifications mentioned on their profile are backed up with certificates.
Self-managed
Curam does things differently. Unlike care agencies, we make sure the choice of care is in your hands. You can interview carers personally before hiring them and have a final say on what their responsibilities will be in your home.
Our carers are self-employed. They don't pay joining fees and their charge rates include Curam's fee of 12.5% and VAT, which covers the cost of their insurance, easy-to-use service agreements and a hassle-free payment system. This means that the client pays less than they would with an agency, and the carer in turn receives a higher wage.
Individual support
In-home care with Curam respects independence. It is tailored to each individual while allowing them to live in the comfort of their own home. Receiving care at home can be a safer and more cost-effective alternative to a care home.
How to find and hire an emergency home carer with Curam?
To arrange emergency care on the Curam platform, create an account and share your care needs with us. If you provide us with your postcode, your care requirements, your gender preference for carers and more detail as needed, carers that fit your demonstrated needs will then apply to your Curam account.
We recommend that you call or meet your carer of choice before contracting with them. Read our advice on interviewing a potential carer.
Alternatively, you can use our search tool to find a carer that suits your needs. You can filter by care type, condition, experience, languages spoken and more in your search. If you see a particular carer that fits your criteria, send them a message outlining your care needs and checking their availability.
All carers can be tried on a trial basis and any specific arrangement can be changed or cancelled with a minimum notice of 48 hours.
Please note that Curam does not provide managed care. It’s critical to our mission that both the client and the carer have choice and control over their care relationship.
Find & hire your Emergency home carer
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