A patient caretaker at home: what the attendant does, what only a nurse should do, and what it costs

Who this guide is for

Families who need a patient caretaker usually arrive here from one of three places. A parent is coming home after a hip replacement, a bypass or a stroke, and the discharge summary assumes someone will be there around the clock. A parent is now bedridden or close to it, and the daughter-in-law who has been managing cannot carry it any longer. Or a parent lives alone in another city and the phone calls have started to worry you.

The person you want is called an attendant, a patient caretaker or a caregiver, depending on who you ask. The first decision is the same in every case: which parts of the care need medical training, and which need a reliable, kind, physically capable person who turns up every day.

The attendant's job, and the nurse's job

The split comes down to training and accountability. A good attendant is often more experienced with bedridden patients than a young nurse, but a nurse is registered and answerable for clinical acts and an attendant is not. If the discharge summary lists nursing tasks, hire a nurse for those through a home-nursing provider or the hospital, and an attendant for everything else.

Day attendant, live-in or nurse visits?

Two questions settle it. Does the discharge summary list nursing tasks, and does someone need to be there through the night? The first decides whether a nurse visits; the second decides whether the attendant goes home in the evening or lives in.

A parent who needs turning through the night needs a live-in attendant, whatever the daytime looks like. A parent who sleeps through and can call for help may manage with a day attendant and family at night.

Bedridden care: the six things that matter most

1. Turning. A person who cannot move needs repositioning regularly, roughly every two hours, to prevent pressure sores. The NHS guidance on pressure ulcers puts changing position regularly and checking the skin every day first among the ways to lower the risk.¹ Ask about turning first in the interview; it is the task that most decides how a bedridden parent fares.
2. Skin. Dry, clean, checked daily at the heels, hips, tailbone and shoulder blades. Redness that does not fade when pressed is the early warning.
3. Fluids and food. Small amounts, often. A chart on the wall beats memory.
4. Toileting and dignity. Agree the routine, the equipment, and how privacy is kept. Most families under-plan this and it is where care breaks down first.
5. Mouth and eyes. Cleaned twice a day. Poor mouth care in someone who is bedridden is linked to chest infections, so it belongs on the written routine.
6. Mood. Being spoken to, sat with and taken outside in a chair if possible. An attendant who sits and talks with your parent is doing the job.

After surgery, after a stroke, with dementia

After surgery the job is short and structured, usually four to twelve weeks, following the discharge summary and the physiotherapist's sheet. Ask the hospital for both in writing and give the attendant a copy. Hire for the recovery period with a review date rather than open-ended.

After a stroke the work is longer and changes week by week as function returns or does not. The attendant repeats the exercises the therapist has set, helps with speech practice if the therapist has given it, and watches for falls. Agree at the start how the duties and the pay are reviewed as things change.

With dementia the priorities shift from the body to safety and routine: the same times every day, the same attendant if at all possible, doors and gas handled, and patience with repetition. Continuity matters more here than anywhere, so pay and weekly off should be set to keep the person, not to save a little each month.

What it costs

These are the ranges Sevetu publishes on its elder-care hiring page,² not Sevetu prices, and metro cities sit at the top. Bedridden care, two-person lifts and night duty push a role toward the upper end and sometimes past it. Agencies add a placement fee of about a month's salary; on Sevetu you agree the amount directly with the attendant and it goes into a digital work agreement.

What to write down before day one

• The condition in plain words, and what the person can and cannot do alone
• The day plan: times, meals, exercises, medicines (with the list attached)
• Night duty: whether it exists, and what "on call" means in hours of sleep
• Turning and skin checks, written as a task, not assumed
• Who to call, in order: family, doctor, ambulance
• Weekly off, who covers it, and paid leave
• Pay, the date it is paid, and how a change in the level of care changes it
• Notice on both sides

The work agreement guide has the wording families use for each of these.

How to find one

Post the role on Sevetu with the condition, day or live-in, and your locality. Attendants with that experience apply, you see their profiles (with a Verified badge where the ID check is done), and you chat in the app before you meet. Do a paid trial day with a family member present, and speak to one family they have cared for before. If you also want a police verification, the official route in each city is on one page.

Hire elder care and patient attendants across India → · City guides: Bangalore · Delhi · Mumbai · Hyderabad · Chennai · Pune · Gurgaon · Kolkata · Noida · Ahmedabad

Attendants looking for this work can apply on the caretaker jobs page.

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Written by the Sevetu teamSevetu is a hiring marketplace for household work in India, operated by Fiel Private Limited. These guides come from the questions families and workers ask us. Nothing here is sponsored, and where a number has no defensible source we say so instead of inventing one. About Sevetu

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