Bariatric care

Bariatric refers to the branch of medicine dealing with issues of extreme obesity. The number of people in Ireland who are obese or morbidly obese is steadily rising.

Bluebird Care can provide specialist domiciliary care and support for customers with these conditions.

Bluebird Care’s dedicated staff team understand the key challenges associated with obesity.

For example:

• Restricted mobility and reach can make self-care and toileting difficult
• Heightened vulnerability to skin infections means careful skin care is vital
• Low self-esteem and depression require sensitive care and support

Being obese also increases the risk from other medical conditions such as heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, osteoarthritis, stress incontinence and obstructive sleep apnoea.

Support to stay well

Our high quality care at home services can provide the essential day-to-day care that you need following bariatric surgery. We can also offer longer term domiciliary care and support to prevent the onset of associated medical conditions and admission to hospital.  

This might include:

• Personal care including skin care, washing, dressing and toileting
• Helping you to eat well
• Providing support with social activities and hobbies
• Household chores such as cleaning, shopping and laundry
• Assistance with your medicines
• Encouragement to maintain your independence

Before providing services we will always visit you at home to carry out a risk assessment and create a bariatric handling plan. This sets out the tasks we will carry out and determines how they can be accomplished safely. We do this to prevent injuries to you and our staff. We follow clear policies and best practice methods to make sure we always provide safe and effective domiciliary care and support. We work with you and also obtain specialist advice from moving and positioning advisors, occupational health physiotherapists and the tissue viability nurse where needed.

Our aim at Bluebird Care is to achieve the right balance between your rights to choose how your care and support is provided, your safety and the safety of our staff team. Your peace of mind is important to us so we work with you to reduce environmental risks, to make sure the right equipment is in place and to allocate domiciliary care staff with the right level of training and skills.

*Not all Bluebird Care offices provide this service. Please check with your local office if this service is available.