Selected guidance on staying in your own home and receiving domestic and home care services. Staying in your own home or moving? Is your present home suitable for you? Could alterations to your home help? What about home care?

Dementia is the term used for a group of symptoms that can affect the memory and lead to mood changes and difficulties with communication and reasoning. Early diagnosis can determine if drugs can help to delay the impact of the condition. It can also help people to live positively with dementia by considering their options in relation to their housing, care, support, health and general wellbeing. This page provides links to the key resources available for those who support people with dementia.

Sheltered, retirement or warden-assisted housing are all terms used to describe accommodation provided specifically for elderly people. Schemes usually have the services of a warden or scheme manager, though increasingly this person lives off site, or the service is provided as ‘floating support’, with periodic visits from a member of staff.

Assisted living, extra care housing or housing-with-care are terms used to described various models of retirement housing for older people who can no longer live completely on their own but do not need 24-hour complex medical supervision.

The name Retirement Village refers mainly to the size of a development – say 100 units or more. Retirement villages are a relatively new type of housing for elderly people, but are growing in popularity in the UK.

Close care is a term used to describe various models of elderly people’s housing where there is sheltered/retirement accommodation linked to or on the same site as a care home.

Many people who find it difficult to manage or who can no longer deal with all their personal care (getting up/going to bed, dressing, bathing, toileting etc), can still remain at home if the right level of care or support can be arranged.

Care homes for nursing care, sometimes known as nursing homes, are mainly for people who need 24 hour support, and regular care tasks carried out or supervised by a qualified nurse. Individuals who need two people to help them transfer, e.g. from bed to chair, or from a chair to the toilet may also need a nursing home because of the higher staffing levels.