What is palliative care?
Facing a serious illness - whether yourself or a loved one - can be one of life’s most difficult experiences. Understanding palliative care and how and where it can be provided can help you to plan ahead for yourself or a loved one, ensuring they receive the care they need at the right time. At Consultus Care and Nursing, we have supported families through these moments for over 60 years, helping individuals live as well and as fully as possible in the place they feel most at ease - in their own home.
Understanding palliative care
Palliative care is a specialised form of support designed to improve the quality of life for individuals living with a life-limiting or incurable illness. The aim of care is to manage pain and relieve other distressing symptoms, and ease the stress of living with such an illness. Physical comfort isn’t the only focus, however. The emotional, psychological, and spiritual wellbeing of the individual and their family is considered, making palliative care truly holistic.
A common misconception of palliative care is that it is reserved for those at the end of their life, often being associated with end-of-life care. However, palliative care can begin much earlier in an illness, even from the point of diagnosis. Palliative can also be provided alongside treatments that aim to manage the condition.
How palliative care can help
Palliative care provides a range of support and services both for you and to those that are important to you in a time that often feels uncertain. Delivered by experienced professionals - whether carers, nurses, or a wider healthcare team, palliative care can offer:
Managing pain, breathlessness, anxiety, nausea, and other symptoms
Helping individuals and families cope with anxiety, fear and coming to terms with an illness.
Helping families navigate complex choices and understanding what to expect.
Offering comfort and connection through a difficult and uncertain period.
Where can you receive palliative care
Palliative care is flexible and can be delivered in a range of settings depending on your clinical needs, personal preferences, and the support available to you. Choosing the right environment is an important part of ensuring comfort and peace of mind during this time. Below, we have outlined the options available for receiving palliative care.
At home
For many individuals and their families, home is where they feel most secure and at ease. Receiving palliative care at home means being surrounded by familiar people, belongings, and routines, which can be incredibly comforting at a time of uncertainty. Live-in care can be tailored to meet a wide range of needs - from assistance with daily activities and companionship, to care provided by a registered live-in nurse for more complex clinical conditions. At Consultus Care, we offer both managed live-in care and live-in nursing services, ensuring that whatever level of support is required, your loved one can receive consistent, one-to-one care in the comfort of their own home.
Care home
Care homes and nursing homes can offer palliative care to residents who are approaching the end of life or living with a progressive illness. In homes with nursing capabilities, more complex health needs such as injected medications, and symptom management can be addressed. While palliative care in a residential setting may not offer the same level of one-to-one support as live-in care at home, it can be a suitable option for individuals who do not wish to remain at home.
Hospice
Hospices are specialist centres focused entirely on providing palliative and end-of-life care. Care is delivered by a multidisciplinary team, including doctors, nurses, counsellors, and chaplains. They are well equipped with the resources required to ensure the person’s symptoms are effectively managed and they are comfortable as they approach the end of their life.
Hospital
Hospitals play a crucial role in providing palliative care, particularly for people who are undergoing hospital treatment or experiencing sudden changes in their condition. Most hospitals have specialist palliative care teams who work alongside consultants and ward staff to provide symptom management, emotional support, and discharge planning. Palliative care in hospitals is often focused on stabilising symptoms or making important decisions about on-going care, especially for those who are newly diagnosed with a life-limiting illness. Whilst they may not always be the most personal or calming setting, they are essential when high-level medical intervention is required.
When should palliative care begin?
Palliative care can be introduced at any stage of a life-limiting or chronic illness - not just in the final days - offering benefits such as early symptom management, fewer hospital visits, and an improved quality of life. It may be considered after a diagnosis of a serious condition like cancer, following a stroke; when curative treatments are no longer effective; when emotional or psychological support is needed; or when planning for end-of-life care to ensure a person’s wishes and values are respected.
Learn more about when palliative care should begin.
What our clients say
"Consultus Care allowed us to keep our Mum at home following a fall and a hip break. This meant that she had a really good quality of life; her friends could visit her easily. It made a huge difference to her to be in her own surroundings.
The quality of care was excellent throughout."
Alison
Why choose Consultus Care and Nursing?
One of the longest-established and most trusted providers
Founded in 1962, we have always been innovators in live-in care and live-in nursing. With over 60 years’ experience, we are one of the country’s longest-established, most highly recommended and experienced providers.
Unrivalled choice and control over your care
We understand that every person’s needs are different and every family’s situation is unique. With our choice of fully managed live-in care and nursing, and our introductory service, we offer more flexibility and personalisation than any other provider.
Highly trained nurses and carers
We are nationally recognised for the quality of our nurses and carers. With market-leading training, delivered at our own, multi-award-winning training centre (a Skills for Care Centre of Excellence), they provide exemplary, compassionate care tailored to individual needs, offering total peace of mind for clients and their families.
Expert care and support, dedicated to you
Our Care Consultants oversee our nursing and managed care services supporting only a small number of families. This means our service is truly personal, with unrivalled support and continuity of care. Reassurance that we are there when you need us most.
Family-founded, family-owned
We continue to be a family-owned and family-managed business. The largest wholly family-owned live-in care provider in the UK, we focus on what our clients and their families need from a high-quality care service, not on meeting investors’ expectations.
How to arrange live-in care
Speak to a Care Advisor
Our friendly, expert Care Advisors are here to guide you through your options, answer your important questions, whilst providing support along the way.
Care assessment
If you would like our managed live-in care service, a Care Consultant local to you, will complete a free assessment of your needs in your home.
Care starts
A fully trained carer will be carefully matched to meet your needs, and will start to provide our high-quality service in your home.
Live-in nursing FAQs
Live-in nursing is specialist form of care and support, where a registered nurse resides in your home to provide one-to-one medical care around-the-clock. Our live-in nursing service means you can avoid a prolonged stay in hospital or a disruptive move to a nursing home or hospice to get the specialist care you need. Our live-in nurses are qualified and trained to provide support with medical conditions and chronic health concerns, recovery and rehabilitation following surgery, and sensitive and compassionate end-of-life care.
Live-in nursing is suitable for individuals, or couples with complex medical conditions, such as:
Acute medical needs requiring clinical supervision
Post-surgical care and rehabilitation
Chronic illness and disease management
Neurological conditions, such as dementia and Parkinson’s
Palliative and end-of-life care
Recovery support following a hospital stay to transition back into daily life
All our nurses are thoroughly vetted through a rigorous process, including:
Right-to-Work and an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks
Registration verification with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC)
Employment reference checks to ensure a minimum or three years post-registration experience in an acute, community or palliative care setting
Face-to-face interviews to assess suitability, professionalism and compassion.
Whilst we provide you with a couple of nurse profiles to review, our experienced Nurse Consultants will recommend the best match based on your specific needs and preferences. We have over 60 years’ experience of matching suitable nurses that meet our clients’ needs to ensure they have the right level of nursing care.
A live-in nurse typically works from 8am to 8pm, with a two-hour break during the day.
A live-in nurse can provide up to two-night calls per night, which are chargeable. If you require more frequent nighttime assistance, your dedicated Nurse Consultant will review your nursing needs, and we may recommend a dedicated night carer, or nurse.
You’ll need to provide a private bedroom with basic amenities, including a bed and somewhere to store their clothes. They need to have access to a bathroom, but this does not need to be a dedicated bathroom. Nurses will also need access to WIFI to enable them to communicate and complete administration tasks. Most families provide food for our nurse, but if this is not possible, we ask for an £8 per day allowance if the nurse needs to make their own provision.
Our live-in nursing service is highly flexible. Care plans are regularly reviewed by your nurse and dedicated Nurse Consultant to ensure it accurately reflects the clinical support you require working closely with healthcare professionals involved in your care.
Nurses are trained to respond effectively to emergencies, such as contacting emergency services, notifying family members, and following agreed protocols to ensure your safety. Our live-in nursing service is fully managed, so you have around-the-clock emergency support from our office-based nursing team.
The minimum booking for our live-in nursing service is four days.
Live-in nursing can typically be arranged within 24-48 hours, depending on the complexity of your needs.
Live-in nursing care costs from £2,780 per week, subject to an assessment of you or your loved one’s needs.
When considering funding live-in nursing, it is worth noting that in the UK, healthcare is provided free at the point of delivery. If you need live-in nursing at home due to an identified health care need, you may be eligible for NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding. This funding is managed and provided by your local Integrated Care Board (ICB), formerly the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). This funding covers the treatment, management or prevention of diseases, illnesses, injuries or disabilities, as well as aftercare those living with these conditions. At Consultus Care and Nursing, our Nursing Co-ordinators are here to guide you through your options, so you can make the right choice for you or your loved one.
It starts with a friendly discussion with a member of our experienced Care Advisory team who will talk through your requirements and expectations and guide you as to the suitability of our services. Should you wish to proceed, a Nurse Co-ordinator will discuss with you, and your family and other healthcare professionals involved in your care, your specific healthcare needs to ensure we match you with the perfect nurse to meet your needs. Once the contractual paperwork is concluded a service start date is agreed.
Looking for care?
Please fill out the enquiry form below and we will aim to contact you within 24 hours. Looking to work for Consultus Care and Nursing? Please apply here.