If care in your own home is no longer possible, you have the option of living in an inpatient facility. Depending on the degree of care required, the care insurance funds will contribute to the costs. The individual amounts can be found in the brochure published by the Federal Ministry of Health.

There are numerous inpatient facilities with short-term care places in Bonn. Relatives are temporarily cared for and looked after here if they are temporarily unable to provide care at home due to a crisis situation or if it is necessary on a temporary basis following a stay in hospital. In such cases, the nursing care insurance funds are entitled to cover part of the costs of the nursing home. (Social Security Code XI).

Short-term care is possible from care level two and for up to eight weeks a year in an inpatient facility.

In the event of illness or vacation of the caregiver, there is an entitlement to respite care. This is possible from care level two and for up to six weeks a year in an inpatient facility.

With day or night care (semi-residential care), you are cared for in a care facility on an hourly basis, but continue to live in your own home. Day or night care can be combined with care allowance or care benefits in kind.

Detailed information on day and night care and the benefits provided by the care insurance funds can be found on the website of the  Federal Ministry of Health (opens in a new tab).

Outpatient care can include basic care and housekeeping, but also nursing or psychiatric care. The person being cared for or their relatives determine the level of care in consultation with the care service.

Home nursing services, also known as treatment care, are medically delegated measures that require a prescription and must be requested by the patient and approved by the health insurance fund in advance. However, they can also be financed privately, i.e. directly, by patients.

The aim of outpatient care is

• to enable people to remain in their "own four walls",
• to achieve an improvement or maintenance of the health and living situation through activating care,
• to avoid a progressive loss of resources or
• to avoid or shorten stays in hospital or nursing homes.

Everyday support services are designed to relieve the burden on carers and help those in need of care to stay at home for as long as possible. They are intended to help maintain social contacts and enable people to cope with everyday life as independently as possible.

These are, for example

• Care groups for people with dementia
• Individual care by recognized helpers
• Relief services for relatives through support and targeted advice
• Relief services for support in everyday life such as domestic help

The care insurance funds pay up to 125 euros per month for this. The amount is earmarked for a specific purpose and can only be provided by a service that can bill the care insurance funds in accordance with § 45 b SGB XI.

More information about the respite services:

Home emergency call systems enable people in need of care to stay in their familiar home environment for longer. They provide the security of receiving help immediately in an emergency.

The home emergency call is a technical alarm system. It consists of a subscriber device and a radio finger. The radio finger is worn either as a bracelet or necklace. One press of a button on the radio finger is enough to establish a direct connection to the emergency call center. It is possible to speak to the emergency call center anywhere in the home via the microphone and loudspeaker of the subscriber device. If the person concerned can no longer speak, the control center sends help.

The subscriber's data is stored at the control center and can only be viewed in an emergency.

If you would like to find out more about the emergency call system, the costs and possible coverage by the care insurance fund, please contact the respective provider. However, the Bonn Care Home for the Elderly can also provide information on the senior call system.

Long-term care insurance supports people who are dependent on help due to their need for care.

People in need of care who are cared for at home or in an inpatient facility receive benefits from the long-term care insurance funds. These can be benefits in kind and/or cash benefits and must be applied for from the long-term care insurance fund. They will check whether the conditions for granting benefits are met, as the legislator has defined exactly who is considered to be in need of care. The amount of benefits depends on the extent of the need for care.

The  Federal Ministry of Health (opens in a new tab) provides detailed information on the type and amount of benefits.

Household-related services are an important part of outpatient care in people's own homes.

This service focuses on assistance with housekeeping. Anyone wishing to make use of these services must bear the costs themselves. For citizens with a low income, it may be possible for the Office for Social Affairs and Housing to cover all or part of the costs.
You can obtain more information on this from  Seniorenruf.

If care assistance is generally necessary, you may be entitled to have the costs covered under the Care Insurance Act. In this case, please contact your care insurance fund directly.

A hot lunch is part of a healthy diet. There are therefore various options in Bonn for older people who have difficulty cooking for themselves.

"Meals on wheels"
The meals on wheels service is for those who have difficulty leaving their home. Every day, volunteers from various organizations serve older Bonn residents a hot meal at home at lunchtime.

Lunch in the community
If you no longer want to cook or prefer to eat in the community, there is the stationary lunch table. Here, too, you can often choose from several options.

The public library in Dottendorf has set up a book service for elderly and disabled people. It regularly brings reading material to their homes on request. There are a particularly large number of novels, large print books and literature cassettes in addition to the usual range of non-fiction books. The readers looked after by the book service are visited every four weeks on a specific morning, receive the books they want and return the ones they have read.