Apply for home care

If it is difficult for you to cope with the daily chores, you can apply for help at home.

In Sonderborg Municipality, we focus on you as a citizen being active and co-responsible when you need support. 

Who can get home care?

To receive home care, you must be physically, mentally or socially impaired and thus not be able to perform your daily tasks or personal care yourself.

If you have a spouse, cohabitant or other close relatives, they are expected to take part in your personal help and care to a lesser extent.

As a rule, you cannot be granted permanent help if training, guidance or aids will enable you to complete one or more of the tasks again.

Age in itself does not trigger help and support.

What can I get help for?

The help you can get depends on your situation and on how much you and others in the household can do. We assess what help you can get.

You can e.g. get help for:

• personal hygiene
• to get clothes on
• to get out of bed
• to eat and drink
• toilet visits
• cleaning
• laundry
• shopping

Before applying for help with cleaning

Before applying for help with practical tasks, it is important that you consider whether you can solve the tasks in a different way than you usually do.

Can you use other tools for cleaning - e.g. use a robotic vacuum cleaner instead of a regular vacuum cleaner or use a mop system instead of cloth and floor scrub?
You can also try to divide the cleaning tasks over several days, so that you e.g. clean the living room one day, the bedroom another day, the bathroom a third day, etc.

Robot vacuum cleaners and practical help.

In Sønderborg municipality, you will generally be directed to use a robot vacuum cleaner if you need help with vacuuming. You must acquire a robot vacuum cleaner yourself. It is also your responsibility to ensure that the layout of your home is suitable for a robot vacuum cleaner. If you need help starting or emptying the robot vacuum cleaner, help can be provided.

What happens when you have applied for help with cleaning?

When you have applied for help with practical tasks, a visitor will contact you. You will be asked here how you manage the cleaning now, how you use your vacuum cleaner, how you wash floors, clean your toilet, change bed linen etc. and how long it takes you to manage the cleaning in your home.

We assess your information and compare it with how you otherwise manage in everyday life. It will be included in the assessment whether you will be able to manage the cleaning in a different way than you usually do. 
In connection with your application, we will also look at whether you e.g. with the help of training, guidance on ergonomic working positions or aids, you will be able to manage the cleaning in your home yourself.

If we assess that you can manage to clean e.g. dividing the tasks over 14 days, using a robot vacuum cleaner or mop system for floor washing - you will not be entitled to cleaning assistance.
A concrete and individual assessment of your situation will always be carried out before it is decided which help you can be referred to.

How do I apply for home care?

If you need home care (home help), you can either:

• Contact the Visitation Department (see contact information at the bottom of the page)
• Fill out an application form via the link at the top of the page

Once your application is received, we will:

• plan a visit to your home, where you and possibly relatives are present
• make an overall assessment of your application and your need for help
• process all information and make a decision

If we need to obtain further information from, for example, your doctor, the hospital or others, this is always done by agreement with you.

You will receive a written decision stating what you have been granted assistance for and possibly not for.

What is flexible home care?

If you receive home care, you have the right to adapt the services you receive so that they better suit your individual needs. 

Flexible home care allows you to exchange services in certain areas. If you receive both personal and practical help, you can, for example, exchange floor washing for a walk.
You can also exchange services for which you are not registered. The services do not necessarily have to be covered by the municipality's service level for personal care and practical help.

Talk to your home helper so that you can find out which services can be exchanged so that it suits you best.

Guidelines for exchange of services:

• The right to exchange services must be kept within the time frame set by the municipality. The home helper assesses professionally whether it is justifiable to exchange services. If in doubt, the home helper must provide the assigned help.
• If you opt out of cleaning the bathroom in favor of cleaning the fridge, you cannot subsequently complain that the bathroom was not cleaned.
• If you have chosen different suppliers for different services, this may limit the possibility of exchanging services between, for example, practical help and personal care.

Always remember to communicate openly with your home helper and find the best solution for you.

Can I choose my own home care provider?

Yes. If you are granted assistance, you are free to choose one of these providers through the free choice scheme:

• Municipal supplier
• CaRas Nursing and Care, which is an approved provider of personal and practical help in the home
• A person of your choice who must be approved and employed by the municipality

Once you have decided which supplier you want, you let your visitator know. If you want to change supplier, you must also notify Visitation.

You can change supplier with one month's notice. See the form for changing provider of personal and practical help.

Can I be assigned an emergency call?

You can have an emergency call system installed in your home if you need to call nursing staff in emergencies and have a permanent physical or mental disability.

This may be the case, for example, if you do not have the opportunity to manage toilet visits yourself, and where help with regular toilet visits is not sufficient, or you have experienced a fall and you are not able to get up yourself.

Emergency calls do not replace calls to eg 112, police or your own doctor / emergency doctor.

What should I do if my situation changes?

You get help in relation to your current situation. The help will be customized if your needs change.

You must notify the Visitation Department if your level of function or needs change. You must also give notice if there are changes in the overall situation of your household.

Where can I find case processing deadlines, quality standards and supervision?

See case processing deadlines here.

See all quality standards here.

See all inspection reports here.

Information to be submitted about citizens on holiday (for municipalities)

If you need help at home during your stay, it is your home municipality that arranges the help with Sønderborg Municipality's visitors.

Help with personal care and practical assistance must be ordered by the Visitationen in the home municipality no later than 14 days before the holiday guest's arrival by contacting the Visitationen, Sønderborg Municipality. Holiday guests should therefore contact their home municipality well in advance of this deadline.

If there is a need for personal care, a description of the task must be sent.

Submit information regarding holiday homes via our digital contact form