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

Who this guide is for

Three situations bring most families to this page. A parent is coming home from hospital 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 any longer. Or a parent lives alone in another city and the phone calls have started to worry you.

In all three the person you are looking for is usually called an attendant, a patient caretaker or a caregiver, and in all three the first question is the same: which parts of this need medical training, and which parts need a reliable, kind, physically capable person who will turn up every day.

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

The line between the two is not about trust. A good attendant is often more experienced with bedridden patients than a young nurse. It is about training and accountability: 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.

Bedridden care: the six things that matter most

1. Turning. A person who cannot move needs repositioning regularly, roughly every two hours through the day, to prevent pressure sores. The NHS guidance on pressure ulcers lists changing position regularly and checking the skin every day as the two things that lower the risk most.¹ This is the single most important thing an attendant does, and the first thing to ask about in the interview.
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. Twice a day. Neglected mouth care is a common route to chest infections in bedridden patients.
6. Mood. Being spoken to, sat with and taken outside in a chair if possible. An attendant who talks to your parent is doing part of the job, not avoiding it.

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, not 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 ID-verified profiles, 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.

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

Previous guideKaamwali bai, kajer lok, panimanishi: what India calls house help, city by cityNext guidePolice verification for a maid, cook, nanny or driver: the official route, city by city