Other Visiting Helpers

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Tasks covered

To aid your loved one staying in their own home, in addition to visiting carers who come and provide personal care, the following tasks are usually carried out by other visiting helpers:

You may also want to arrange other visits for certain specialised areas:

If you're unable to put out your dustbin, contact your local Council to arrange an "assisted collection" whereby they collect it from a visible location, empty it and return it.

Also see our section on house maintenance and repairs.

Also see our section on dog walking and help with pets.

Finding vetted helpers

It's obviously important to ensure that anyone coming to your loved one's home is trustworthy. There are several sources you can look at, as follows.

Your local Council should have a list of vetted companies able to do housework, shopping, gardening etc - search their website for terms such as "help at home", or phone them.

In the UK, the Age UK website has a page to help you find services near you. This has categories such as shopping (Age UK website for services near you - shopping) and more general help (Age UK website for services near you - home help), although coverage of areas may not be complete.

Food shopping

Vetted helpers

Shopping services from vetted helpers can be a standalone service or part of other help in the home.

Specialist ready-meal (and grocery) suppliers

There are a number of suppliers of frozen ready-meals, aimed at elderly customers. Some of these also have a wide range of supermarket-style groceries including pet food, over-the-counter medicines, and cleaning products. For people with dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) who require textured/pureed food these suppliers are virtually essential.

Because they're aimed at elderly customers, they usually offer a service whereby the delivery driver can put the frozen food in the freezer for you (although do check). They also usually offer a telephone ordering service in addition to online ordering.

Note that some meals are microwaveable whilst others must be oven-heated, so check which of these each recipe is.

Note that these suppliers may not be able to deliver to every area.

In the UK, one of the widest ranges of meals, including vegetarian ones and textured/pureed ones, and groceries, is available from the Oakhouse Foods website. For their pureed, minced & moist, and soft & bite-sized meals (IDDSI levels 4, 5 and 6) see these categories near the bottom of their Go Shopping menu. Once on these pages you can narrow the selection down according to vegetarian needs, ingredients to avoid etc. (We don't receive any money for mentioning this shop.)

Supermarket Click & Collect or delivery

Consider using a supermarket's Click & Collect or delivery service, as an aid to a helper. If your loved one's lucky enough to have a willing and trustworthy neighbour, they could receive a delivery sent to their address, to bring round and put away.

The easiest way is for you to know (or be told) what's needed and then order it online. In the UK, if you need to you can order by phone at Sainsbury's using their customer support number, or at Morrison's using their Doorstep Delivery service.

'Meals on Wheels' / 'Meals at Home'

'Meals on Wheels' services, sometimes known as 'Meals at Home', deliver a hot meal before lunchtime, usually together with sandwiches to be kept for the evening meal. They can be very useful for some people, but do consider the potential drawbacks for people with dementia or with dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) who require textured/pureed food . These inherent drawbacks include:

  • the person delivering is likely to be in a rush, in order to deliver to many people before lunch
  • the hot meal may be far too hot to eat straight away, so there's a risk of burning the mouth (NB oven gloves may be required for moving the foil container from where it's left)
  • the hot meal may arrive quite a bit earlier than lunchtime, so there's a risk of it being eaten too soon or else being forgotten about or allowed to go cold, or be kept lukewarm with a risk of bacterial growth
  • the evening meal may be eaten at the wrong time or forgotten about
  • the packaging may be difficult to open
  • textured/pureed food may not be available or not at the correct IDDSI level, and note that sandwiches are not suitable for any IDDSI level other than Regular (7)
  • not all services operate seven days a week
  • it isn't unknown for a delivery to be missed.

In the UK, meals on wheels services are usually organised by the local Council. In some cases you may need to go directly to a commercial company, and in some areas the service isn't available at all.

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