Seven Differences Between Live-In Care and Domiciliary Care
What is live-in care? How does it differ to our standard home care? And might you be cut out for life as a live-in carer? Learn more here.
07/10/2022
What is live-in care? How does it differ to our standard home care? And might you be cut out for life as a live-in carer? Learn more here.
Among the many open care opportunities on our careers website is the live-in care assistant role. It’s a more specialised and dedicated form of home care that takes an extra-special person to be a good fit. However, those who love being a live-in carer say there’s nothing else like it.
In this post, we’ll explore how live-in care differs from domiciliary care, and whether being a live-in carer could be the right fit for you.
What is meant by live-in care?
A live-in carer pulls together all of the skills of our domiciliary care and physical disabilities care services into a single role that’s performed in the customer’s home, 24/7. Highly trained and hugely empathetic, our live-in carers are some of the kindest people you’ll ever meet, with care standards as high as their hearts are big.
The Differences Between Domiciliary Care and Live-in Care
1. You are always with your customer
The biggest example of how live-in care differs from domiciliary care is that you live in their home with them and are with them all day, every day. Live-in care customers are some of the most vulnerable in society, often with significant physical or emotional health problems, and it’s your job to be there for them, giving the highest quality of care through their differing moods and motivation levels. As a result, there’s no uniform, and no clocking in and out. There’s just you and your customer, with the support team at Bluebird Care here on the other end of the phone.
2. You can develop a deeper bond with the person you care for
Because you’re always with your customer, you come to know them very well and inevitably the two of you become incredibly close. Of course, our domiciliary care assistants also develop close bonds with their customers, but they see them for a few hours a day. Simply seeing someone all day, day-in, day-out creates an altogether different kind of connection, which is a subtle but important difference between domiciliary care and live-in care.
3. You feel like part of the family
That ‘different kind of connection’ we mentioned above can be summed up in one word: family. A big differentiator between live-in care vs domiciliary care is that when you live with your customer, you really do feel like you’re family. You may not always see eye to eye. You may even playfully bicker sometimes like siblings. But they’ll always know you have their best interests at heart, and you’ll always do your best to make sure they feel as cared about and supported as possible. Moreoever, you’ll meet their actual family and more often than not you’ll be welcomed into it. Our live-in carers regularly tell us just how grateful their customers’ families are, which is testament to how much they care to begin with.
4. You have less free time…
One huge difference between live-in care vs domiciliary care is that with the latter, you get to detach and go back to your own life when your shift is over. As a live-in carer, with the exceptions of holidays and two hours uninterrupted break time (depending on the complexity of the package), your shift is never really over. That means on the whole less time for things like exercise, seeing friends or visiting family. Live-in care is a commitment, and ultimately one that our live-in carers make because they love what they do, and enjoy the lifestyle that comes from caring for someone and feeling so appreciated.
5. … but you get to share in all their special occasions
One big bonus of being there all the time and feeling like family is you’re there for the best times of their life just as much as the difficult ones. At birthdays and Christmases, christenings and graduations, you’ll be right alongside your customer, sharing in their family’s joys and successes. If you’re someone who feels other people’s feelings very strongly, this could well be one of the things you love about the most.
6. And your own holidays feel extra special
Another of the differences between domiciliary care and live-in care is that when you live with your customer, you truly learn to appreciate your time off in a way that our regular home carers might not relate to. It’s essentially a respite care situation, where you take a break to rest, recharge, and see the other important people in your life. Our live-in carers often have families they don’t get to see very often, so those weeks away become precious, making for some emotional reunions and memorable times together.
7. The monetary rewards are also higher
We’ve left this till last on our list of seven differences between live-In care and domiciliary care because in many ways it’s the least important. Live-in care isn’t a job you do for the extra money, such is the level of commitment and the dedication to the lifestyle you’ll need to do the job and be happy in yourself. However, it is only fair that extra dedication is rewarded, which is why the live-in care assistant role pays up to an extra £117 more than our regular home care roles. Additionally, living with your customer means you don't have the regular living expenses, so you get far more of your pay packet to spend on the things that matter to you!
Live-in care certainly isn’t about the money, but the financial rewards are certainly a nice bonus – alongside the other rich emotional rewards of looking after a very vulnerable person, and making their life better in every conceivable way.
Could you be a live-in carer?
If you’ve studied these differences between domiciliary care and live-in care and think life as a live-in carer could be for you, we’d absolutely love to hear from you.
See our Worthing carer vacancies at our careers site, or get in touch with us to tell us more about you!
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