Home care visits
An agency carer comes for a set slot, typically thirty to sixty minutes, once or several times a day. Good for personal care, meals and medication support. Expensive to scale up, and the slot times are rarely as flexible as families hope.
Live-in care
A carer lives in the home. Cost is broadly comparable with a care home in many parts of the UK and it keeps someone in familiar surroundings, but it is a significant loss of privacy and it needs a spare room.
Telecare and personal alarms
Pendants, fall sensors and monitored alarm lines. Designed for emergencies, and they can be genuinely lifesaving, but they do nothing on an ordinary Tuesday when the issue is that lunch did not happen.
Day centres and lunch clubs
Often overlooked and frequently the best value of everything on this list. Company, a hot meal, and a break for the family carer, usually at modest cost.
Reminder and check-in services
Scheduled prompts for drinks, meals, appointments and calls, with confirmation back to the family. Low cost, no one in the house, and no equipment. Not a substitute for hands-on care where washing or dressing is needed.
The wider picture
3.9 million
people aged 65 and over in the UK live alone, around a third of that age group.
Source: Office for National Statistics
5.0 million
people in England and Wales provide unpaid care, according to the 2021 Census.