What is visiting care?
Visiting care (also known as hourly or domiciliary care) involves a professional carer visiting your home for agreed periods to assist with daily living tasks.
Unlike live-in care, carers visit for dedicated calls and leave once support is completed. Services range from a few hours a week to multiple visits daily, aligning with NHS guidelines for flexible homecare.
What happens during a home care visit?
Every visit is structured around your personalised care plan and individual goals. Typical support includes:
- Washing, bathing and dressing
- Toileting and continence care
- Medication
- Preparing meals and drinks
- Mobility and transfers
- Shopping and collecting prescriptions
- Light household tasks
- Attending appointments
- Social and community activities
- Companionship
- Getting ready for bed
The important thing is that visits reflect what you need rather than following the same checklist for every client.
Morning care visits
The morning can be one of the most important times to have additional support. Depending on your care plan, a morning visit might involve:
- Getting out of bed
- Washing or bathing
- Dressing
- Oral hygiene and grooming
- Toileting or continence support
- Medication
- Preparing breakfast and drinks
- Moving safely around the home
- Making sure everything you need is accessible for the day ahead
Carers focus strictly on areas where help is required, supporting your independence where possible.
Mealtime visits
Preparing food can become more difficult because of reduced mobility, fatigue, illness or changes in confidence. A visiting carer can help with shopping, preparing meals and drinks or making sure suitable food is available for later.
Support can be adapted according to how involved you want to remain. You may want your carer to prepare the whole meal, or you may simply need help getting ingredients ready so you can continue cooking yourself.
Where healthcare professionals have provided guidance about diet or hydration, relevant recommendations can be incorporated into the care plan.
Evening and bedtime visits
Evening support ensures a comfortable night and peace of mind. Key services include:
- Preparing an evening meal
- Medication
- Washing and personal care
- Changing into nightwear
- Toileting
- Moving safely around the home
- Preparing drinks or other items for overnight
- Helping you settle into bed
The timing of the visit can be planned around your normal routine wherever possible.
Visits for companionship and social support
Care visits can focus on emotional well-being and social engagement rather than solely on clinical or personal care tasks. A carer might spend time talking with you, sharing an interest, helping with an activity or accompanying you outside the home.
Depending on the agreed care plan, this could include:
- Going for a walk
- Visiting the shops
- Attending a community group
- Seeing friends or relatives
- Going to an appointment
- Taking part in a hobby
- Simply sharing conversation at home
Aligned with CQC guidance, our care emphasises choice, dignity, and active social participation.
How often can a carer visit?
There is no single schedule that is right for everyone. You might need:
- A few visits each week
This can work well when you are largely independent but would benefit from help with particular tasks, shopping, household routines or companionship.
- One visit each day
A regular daily visit may be useful if there is one point in your routine where you consistently need additional help, such as making dinner or getting ready for bed.
- Several visits each day
You may benefit from visits in the morning, around mealtimes and again during the evening.
- Temporary additional visits
You may need more frequent care for a limited period, such as following illness, injury or a hospital stay. The frequency of visits should come from your actual care needs and preferences.
How long should a visiting care call be?
The appropriate visit length depends on what needs to happen during that visit.
A straightforward visit focused on a limited number of tasks may require less time than one involving personal care, meal preparation, mobility support and companionship.
Rather than starting with an arbitrary number of hours, our care assessment will establish:
- What support is required
- How long it can reasonably take
- Whether any activities need to happen at particular times
- Which activities you prefer to complete independently
- Whether the visit needs to allow time for social interaction as well as practical care
Consistent, familiar carers
Prestige builds dedicated care teams around each client to ensure continuity. Familiar carers quickly learn your personal preferences, dietary choices, and routines. Standard cover procedures are in place for absences, with proactive updates provided for any schedule changes.
Working alongside family carers
Professional visits complement support from relatives, covering demanding routines like mornings or evenings so family members can focus on positive relationships rather than care duties.
What happens if my needs change?
Your visiting care package can be reviewed when your circumstances change.
This might happen following:
- A fall
- A new health diagnosis
- A hospital admission
- Changes to mobility
- Changes in medication
- Increasing personal care needs
- A change in family support
- Recovery from a temporary illness
- A change in your daily routine
Your care plan is reviewed and updated when your needs change, so support stays matched to what you need.
When visiting care may no longer be enough
Visiting care works best when you can manage safely and comfortably during the periods between planned visits.
If you begin to need frequent assistance between visits, require prolonged support or cannot safely be left without someone available for substantial periods, it may be worth considering a different care arrangement.
Depending on your needs, Prestige can discuss:
- Longer periods of homecare
Care may be provided for extended periods where more support is required during particular parts of the day.
- Overnight care
Where support is primarily required during the night, a dedicated overnight arrangement may be appropriate.
- 24-hour care
Where someone requires continuous support across the day and night, a team-based 24-hour care package may be needed.
- Complex care
Where increasing needs involve significant clinical interventions or registered-nurse oversight, Prestige Nursing & Care’s complex care provides specialist nurse-led support.
A fully managed care service
Prestige Nursing & Care provides a fully managed homecare service. Local management teams oversee carer scheduling, cover arrangements, and service reviews, providing a continuous single point of contact.
This can be particularly valuable where:
- Several carers form part of the care team
- Visits are required at different times
- Care needs change
- Cover needs to be arranged
- A family member has questions about the service
- Additional specialist support becomes necessary
Having an established care team behind the service provides a clear point of contact throughout the care arrangement.
Why choose Prestige Nursing & Care for visiting homecare?
Prestige Nursing & Care has provided homecare across England and Scotland for over 80 years. When working with us, you can expect:
How much does visiting care cost?
The cost of visiting care depends on the individual package of support.
The main factors include the number of visits, the length and frequency of those visits and the nature of the care required.
Following an assessment, your local Prestige team can explain the care arrangement recommended and provide details of the associated cost.
Arranging visiting care at home
Getting started begins with a conversation.
Contact your local Prestige Nursing & Care team and tell us a little about the support you are looking for. We can explain the options available and discuss the next steps for assessing your individual care needs.
From there, we can develop a care arrangement based around your routines, priorities and the level of assistance you require.