Live-in care in Rochester

We can often have a matched live-in carer in place in Rochester within 48 hours of your first call. Once we understand your loved one's needs, routine and personality, we shortlist carers with the right experience, introduce them to you, and agree a start date that suits the family. For an urgent discharge from Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham, we work to the hospital's timetable and can sometimes arrange a carer the same day. Planned starts are usually set up within one to two weeks, which leaves time for a proper handover.

Live-in care in Rochester starts from £1,090 a week paid to your carer, plus our weekly agency fee of £250, so about £1,340 a week in total. Care for a couple starts from £1,350 a week plus the agency fee, and there is a one-off registration fee of £250. The household also provides the carer's food and a private bedroom. Prices are the same across Kent, and we confirm your exact weekly cost after a free assessment call, with no long contracts.

Yes. We arrange live-in care across Rochester and the surrounding ME1 and ME2 postcodes, including Strood, Chatham, Borstal, Frindsbury, Wainscott, Cuxton and nearby villages. Because the carer lives in, there are no visit rounds or travel times to fit around, so rural homes and farmhouses are just as easy to cover as the town centre. We also arrange care in nearby Gravesend, Maidstone. If you're not sure whether an address is covered, call us and we'll check straight away.

Yes. Many families in Rochester call us when a loved one is ready to leave Medway Maritime Hospital, Gillingham. We can talk to the ward or discharge team, agree a start date that matches the discharge plan, and have the carer at home ready to help with settling in, meals, personal care and medication prompts. Our carers are not nurses, so any clinical care, such as wound dressings or injections, stays with district nurses and the GP. Having someone there day and night can make an earlier, safer discharge possible.

Possibly. Medway Council offers a free care needs assessment and a financial assessment, which decide whether the council will contribute to the cost of care. In England, people with savings and assets above £23,250 usually pay for their own care, and the council may help if they have less. Attendance Allowance is not means-tested and can help with costs, and NHS Continuing Healthcare may pay in full where needs are mainly health-related. Our funding guides explain each option, and we're happy to talk them through on a call.

Yes. Dementia is one of the most common reasons families in Rochester choose live-in care, because it keeps routines, surroundings and faces familiar. We match carers who have dementia experience and keep the same carers wherever we can, so your loved one isn't meeting strangers. Carers help with calm daily routines, meals and drinks, personal care, medication prompts, gentle activity and reassurance at night. They also keep the family updated and work alongside the GP and local memory services.

A live-in carer needs a private bedroom, use of a bathroom and the kitchen, and ideally Wi-Fi so they can keep in touch with their own family. The household provides the carer's food, or a small food allowance. Carers also take a daily break of around two hours, usually when your loved one rests or another family member is around, and we help you plan for it. When the carer has time off, we arrange a matched relief carer so care continues without a gap.

Medicare People currently provides introductory live-in care services. We have submitted our application to the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and intend to introduce a fully managed live-in care service following registration. As an introductory agency, we find, check and introduce self-employed carers, and the family agrees the day-to-day care with the carer directly. We still carry out right-to-work, DBS and reference checks before any introduction, and our team stays in touch throughout. If anything isn't working, we arrange a replacement carer.