Someone in the house, through the night.
For the times when nights have become the hardest part of the day. A carer arrives in the evening, stays until morning, and is on hand if anything happens between.
Speak to us0118 334 7474
A carer in the home from the evening to the morning, so nobody is on their own overnight.
Overnight care does what it sounds like: a carer arrives at your home in the evening, settles whoever they’re looking after into bed, and stays in the house through the night. They’re there for whatever the night brings — needing the toilet, getting confused about where they are, a fall, a moment of distress — and they leave in the morning, after a hand with breakfast and getting up.
It’s usually one of two things: a way of giving an exhausted family carer some real sleep, or the safety net that lets someone keep living at home when the nights have become the part that doesn’t work any more.
Two kinds of overnight care, chosen by need.
The right kind depends on how often someone is likely to need help between bedtime and breakfast. The honest answer is rarely obvious from the outside, which is part of what we look at during the assessment.
A carer sleeping in the house, on hand if needed.
The carer goes to bed in a separate room and is available if you wake them — for help to the toilet, a glass of water, a moment of reassurance. They’re expected to get a reasonable night’s sleep themselves.
- Best when most nights pass uninterrupted
- Help available within a minute or two of being woken
- Suitable when needs are predictable and low-frequency
- The most common arrangement we provide
A carer awake throughout the night, ready to help.
The carer stays awake from bedtime to morning, sitting with the client or close by — depending on what’s needed — and intervening as required. They sleep during the day instead.
- Best when help is needed several times a night
- Suitable for end-of-life care and advanced dementia
- Right when someone needs continuous observation
- Available seven nights a week, including bank holidays
Overnight care tends to be needed when the day works, but the night doesn’t.
Most of our overnight care is added to an existing daytime arrangement — either ours or family-led — rather than starting from scratch. These are the situations where it most often helps.
For long-term, every-night cover, live-in care is usually the better answer — a single carer in the home around the clock, including overnight, often at a lower weekly cost than seven separate overnight bookings.
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Giving a family carer a real night's sleep
If a husband, wife, son or daughter is the one getting up two or three times a night, exhaustion catches up quickly. A regular overnight booking — once a week, twice a week — can be the difference between coping and not.
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End-of-life care at home
When someone is approaching the end of life and family wishes them to stay at home, waking nights are often what makes that possible. We work alongside district nurses and the GP to keep things calm and dignified through the night.
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After a hospital stay or fall
The first weeks back at home are often the most uncertain — especially overnight. A short-term booking covers the period when confidence and mobility are still being rebuilt.
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Dementia with night-time waking
Disturbed sleep is one of the hardest parts of dementia for families to manage. A familiar carer overnight can settle someone back to sleep without raising the temperature of the moment.
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Respite for a primary carer
A planned week or fortnight of overnight cover — perhaps so a family member can go away — needs to be booked in advance and the carer matched well, but it's something we do regularly.
A familiar face, not a stranger in the dark.
The hardest thing about overnight care is that the carer is in the house when everyone is at their most vulnerable. The whole point is that the person being looked after — and whoever else is in the house — can sleep.
Carers who’ve already met you.
Wherever possible, our overnight carers are people who’ve already worked with the same client during the day. That means the first time someone settles into a guest room in your house isn’t the first time they’ve walked through your front door.
Trained for night-time situations.
Nights are different. Our carers are trained in falls response, end-of-life care, managing distress and confusion in the early hours, and recognising when something has changed enough to call a GP or 111. The training happens in person at our centre in Pangbourne.
Honest about which kind you need.
Many families are sold a sleeping night when what they actually need is a waking one. We’ll say honestly which is right based on what the assessment shows — and if a sleeping night turns into a frequently-disturbed one, we’ll tell you and revisit the plan rather than letting it drift.
Per night, not per hour.
Overnight care is priced as a flat per-night rate, which depends on whether it’s a sleeping or waking night, and on which day of the week it falls. No setup fee. To end an arrangement we ask for 28 days’ notice, although you can cancel at any time within the first 14 days of care starting.
When extra care was required, Gardiner’s were very quick at responding to our changing needs.
What families ask us about overnight care.
What time does the carer arrive and leave?
An overnight booking typically runs from 10pm to 7am, but the start and end can shift to suit the household’s routine. Some families book a longer evening so the carer can help with supper and getting ready for bed; others want them to stay later in the morning to help with breakfast. We’ll set the times around what works for you.
Can I book just one or two nights a week?
Yes. Many of our overnight bookings are once or twice a week — often the same days each week — to give a family carer a guaranteed night of unbroken sleep. Others book a fortnight at a time for a planned holiday. There’s no minimum number of nights.
Will the overnight carer be the same person we have during the day?
Wherever possible, yes — or at least someone from the same small team you already know. If overnight care is being added to existing daytime visits, we’ll usually arrange for one of the regular daytime carers to do the overnight, or someone they work alongside.
If you’re only booking overnight care, you’ll still have a small regular team rather than a different person each night.
What does the carer do if something serious happens?
Our carers are trained to assess the situation calmly and act on it. For something minor — help to the toilet, settling someone back to sleep — they handle it themselves. For anything more concerning, they’ll call 111, the GP’s out-of-hours line, or 999 as appropriate, and contact the family member named on the care plan.
Every overnight booking has a clear escalation plan agreed at the assessment, so the carer isn’t making judgement calls in the dark about who to ring.
What does the carer need overnight — somewhere to sleep, food?
For sleeping nights, a separate room with a bed they can use is needed. For waking nights, somewhere to sit comfortably is enough. Carers bring their own food and drink, but families often offer a tea or coffee — that’s up to you.
If the household isn’t set up to host an overnight carer, we’ll talk through what would need to change at the assessment.
How quickly can overnight care start?
For planned overnight care, we typically need a minimum of 48 hours from first call to first night. We usually operate with a waiting list, we will let you know how long the wait may be when we do the assessment. For urgent end-of-life situations, we move much faster — often the same day or the next.
If you’re calling because tonight is the problem, please ring rather than email. We’ll work out what we can do straight away.
Wondering if a sleeping or waking night is the right fit?
Five or ten minutes on the phone is often enough to work out which kind of overnight care is right, or whether a different arrangement — live-in, more daytime hours — would suit better. No script, no pressure.
Mon–Fri 7:30am–5pm · Out of hours, leave a message and we’ll call back.
