Live-in Care in Edinburgh

Edinburgh • Scotland

Round-the-clock live-in care at home in Edinburgh

Live-in care lets your loved one stay in the Edinburgh home they know and love, with a dedicated Care Professional living alongside them to provide support day and night. For many families across the capital it is the natural alternative to moving into a care home: one-to-one attention instead of shared staff, familiar surroundings instead of an unfamiliar room, and a daily rhythm built entirely around one person. Protocol Healthcare Services has spent more than a decade arranging exactly this kind of care, and we bring the same standards to Edinburgh that we apply everywhere we work.

We will be straight with you about how we operate. Our offices are in the South of England, so we do not run a high-street branch in Edinburgh. What we do run is a genuinely national service, coordinating vetted, background-checked Care Professionals wherever they are needed. Every person we place has completed enhanced disclosure and right-to-work checks, references and training before they ever start, and a consultant is on hand around the clock, so families in Leith, Morningside or Corstorphine get the same reassurance as those on our doorstep.

What live-in care in Edinburgh includes

• ✓ A dedicated live-in Care Professional in the home
• ✓ Round-the-clock support and overnight reassurance
• ✓ Personal care, washing, dressing and continence support
• ✓ Medication management and prompting
• ✓ Meal planning, cooking and nutrition
• ✓ Mobility support and help avoiding falls
• ✓ Dementia, Parkinson's and complex care
• ✓ Companionship, hobbies and days out

Why choose live-in care over a care home in Edinburgh

Leaving a long-time home in Stockbridge, Newington or Cramond is one of the hardest decisions a family can face, and it is often not the only option. With live-in care your relative keeps their own bedroom and garden, their neighbours, their GP surgery and the community they have built over decades. A top-floor tenement flat in the New Town, a terraced house in Gorgie, a bungalow out towards Colinton, each keeps its meaning when the person stays put. Pets stay too, and familiar routines carry on. Because the support is one-to-one, it flexes around the person rather than around a rota. For couples the case is even stronger: two people can be supported under a single live-in arrangement, which often compares well with the cost of two separate care-home places.

Local knowledge across Edinburgh

Edinburgh is Scotland's capital and its second largest city, and care needs vary just as much from one community to the next. We arrange live-in care across the coastal streets of Leith and Portobello by the Firth of Forth, through the tenement stairs of the Old Town and New Town, out to the quieter suburbs of Morningside, Liberton and Colinton towards the Pentland Hills, and across to Corstorphine, Sighthill and Wester Hailes in the west. Whether a client lives in a Victorian flat in Stockbridge or a family home in Cramond, we tailor the support to the person and the property rather than offering one fixed package. Stairs, layout and access all shape how a live-in arrangement is set up, and we plan for that from the first conversation.

We also support people coming home after a hospital stay. The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh at Little France and the Western General Hospital in the north of the city, both run by NHS Lothian, handle a large share of the city's care, and the first few weeks back at home after a discharge are critical. A live-in Care Professional can be in place quickly to manage medication, support mobility and rehabilitation, and keep families and community teams in the loop, reducing the risk of an avoidable readmission.

Funding and the cost of live-in care in Edinburgh

Live-in care is always priced on an individual assessment, because the right package depends on the level of support, whether it is for one person or a couple, and any specialist needs such as dementia or nurse-led care. We give you a clear, all-inclusive weekly figure before anything begins, with no hidden extras. Many Edinburgh families self-fund, but you may also be entitled to help. Adult social care in the city is arranged through the City of Edinburgh Council social work department with the Edinburgh Health and Social Care Partnership, organised under self-directed support, which gives people choice over how their care is delivered. You can ask Social Care Direct for a free care needs assessment followed by a financial assessment. Our team is always happy to explain how the routes fit together, and you can read more on our paying for care guide.

More than home care: staffing for Edinburgh providers

Alongside care for families, we are also an REC-affiliated healthcare staffing agency with national reach. Care homes, supported living services and NHS teams across Edinburgh rely on us for dependable cover, from NMC-registered nurses and support workers to mental health and learning disability specialists. If you run a service in the city, see our staffing services overview.

Areas of Edinburgh we cover for live-in care

We arrange live-in care at home across the city and its surrounding communities, including:

• Leith
• Morningside
• Portobello
• Stockbridge
• Corstorphine
• Newington
• Gorgie
• Cramond
• Colinton
• Liberton
• Sighthill
• Wester Hailes