Live-in Care in Waterford
Fully managed live-in care across Waterford from Garda-vetted, experienced and insured carers — with someone in place within a few days.
Care usually starts within days, with no HSE assessment queue
Garda-vetted carers, employed and insured by us
One primary carer, with a familiar backup
4.8/5 on Google and 5/5 on Bark
What happens next
We call you back
Someone from our care team rings you to talk through what’s needed and answer your questions.
A short conversation
Which days and hours would help, what has got harder at home, and anything we should know about your loved one.
We match a carer
Garda-vetted, employed and insured by us. Care usually starts within days, sometimes sooner.
Two ways to arrange live-in care
Flex
A carer lives in the home and provides your agreed active care hours through the day, plus the reassurance of a carer resting in the home overnight.
Constant
A small team of carers provides cover around the clock, so someone is awake and on hand day and night. It suits higher-dependency needs.
What do our live-in carers help with?
Everyday support that keeps life at home going.
Medication
Housekeeping
Overnight Help
Personal care
Meal Prep
Companionship
How live-in care works in Waterford
Lismore sits at the foot of the Knockmealdowns on the Blackwater, west of Dungarvan. In the country around it, out towards Tallow, Cappoquin and Ballysaggart, there may be no other house for a good stretch of road. A carer who calls before breakfast and again at teatime still leaves a good part of the day when your loved one is alone, and the night is the longest of them.
In Census 2022, Cappoquin had the oldest average age of any Waterford town of at least 500 people, 43.1 against 38.8 nationally. Across the county, 857 people aged 85 and over were living alone, 45% of everyone that age in private households.
The live-in carer has the spare room and settles into the way the house runs. One main carer is there most of the time, with a familiar backup covering days off, so nights and days alike are spent with someone your loved one knows. Living in, the carer picks up slow changes a weekly visitor might miss, such as meals left half eaten or a hand reaching for the wall more often.
UIH carers hold healthcare assistant training and have passed Garda vetting, and they are employed and insured by UIH itself. The carer will remind your loved one when tablets are due. Injections, insulin and wound care fall outside a carer's remit, so anything clinical should be raised with the care manager at the outset.
Live-in care across Waterford
From the Suir estuary to the Blackwater, every part of County Waterford is open to a live-in arrangement. Living in comes into its own in the west, where homes are scattered and a day of separate visits would be spent largely on the road. Lismore and Cappoquin on the Blackwater are covered, as are Tallow, Villierstown, Aglish and Ballymacarbry with the upland townlands of the Nire valley. Before the carer moves in, your care manager settles the bedroom, meals, days off and trips into town with you.
Towns and areas we cover
Waterford city
Lismore
Ardmore
Dungarvan
Portlaw
Kilmacthomas
Tramore
Cappoquin
HSE health region
HSE Dublin and South East
Main hospital
University Hospital Waterford, Waterford city
Also nearby
GP out of hours
Caredoc
Growing older at home in Waterford
County Waterford runs along the south coast of Munster between Wexford and Cork, with Kilkenny and Tipperary to the north. The Comeragh Mountains rise inland from Dungarvan towards Clonmel, and the Knockmealdowns, which hold Waterford's highest summit, line the Tipperary border above Lismore. South of the Comeraghs, the Copper Coast UNESCO Geopark runs west from Kilfarrasy to Stradbally. Gaeltacht na nDéise lies close to Dungarvan, at An Rinn and An Sean Phobal.
Census 2022 counted 127,363 people. Waterford city and suburbs had 60,079, including the part across the Suir in County Kilkenny. After the city, the CSO names Tramore as the largest town, with 11,277, and Dungarvan had 10,081. Portlaw, at 1,881, comes next among towns wholly in the county, and villages such as Kill, Clashmore and Ballymacarbry have a few hundred people or fewer.
The same census found 21,032 people aged 65 and over, up 21% on 2016 and 16.5% of the population, against a State share of 15.1%. Among over-65s in private homes, 5,257 lived alone, 26.5% against 25.9% for the State.
Here, home care depends on the address. Calls in the city, Tramore and Dungarvan can sit close together on a carer's day. In the Blackwater valley, the Nire and the Copper Coast villages, homes are further apart, so plans allow for travel time, and a carer who stays longer, or lives in, is often the better fit.
Sources: HSE, upmc.ie, Caredoc, CSO, TFI Local Link, Transport for Ireland, Citizens Information, Waterford City and County Council, Alzheimer Society of Ireland, Family Carers Ireland, ALONE. Checked 23 October 2026.
Local support in Waterford alongside private care
These services are separate from UIH, and routes, numbers and opening hours can change, so check with each one directly.
Getting about. Every TFI Local Link bus in Waterford is open to Free Travel Pass holders. Route 361 links Ardmore, An Sean Phobal and An Rinn with Dungarvan, the 667 serves Kill, Dunhill and Kilmeaden, and pre-booked services reach the Nire valley, Villierstown and Cheekpoint.
Advice. Citizens Information has centres on Merchant's Quay and Lower Yellow Road in Waterford city and at Scanlon's Yard in Dungarvan.
Dementia. The Alzheimer Society provides a Waterford Dementia Adviser, day care at Pinegrove on the Passage Road, West Waterford Day Care in Dungarvan, Cappoquin Day Care Centre and the Dungarvan Memory Cafe.
Company. ALONE has support coordinators covering Waterford City, West Waterford and Tramore, and North Waterford with South Tipperary. Its national referral line, 0818 222 024, answers calls from 8am to 8pm daily.
Home and community. The Waterford Older People's Council represents older residents, as set out in the council's Age Friendly Strategy 2023 to 2028. The Healthy Age Friendly Homes programme can send a coordinator to visit people over 65 and agree a plan covering adaptation grants and energy upgrades.
Setting up care after a hospital discharge in Waterford
If home is Lismore or Tallow, your loved one's trip back from University Hospital Waterford after a long stay ends at a house that may have been empty for weeks. Booking live-in care for the homecoming means help in the house while your loved one gets strong again, with washing, meals and getting about safely. Phoning us before a discharge date is fixed gives your care manager longer to choose a carer and sort out the room with you.
Why families choose United Irish Healthcare
We employ, vet and insure every carer, and we arrange cover ourselves when your carer takes leave. Care usually starts within days, sometimes sooner, and your loved one has one primary carer with a familiar backup.
Why Waterford families choose us
Ballymacarbry, by the Nire valley, is one of several Waterford villages home to a few hundred people at most, so a live-in carer there picks up slow changes a weekly visitor might miss.
The live-in plan pairs a primary carer with a backup who gets to know your loved one too, so days off at a home near Cappoquin are covered by a familiar face.
What families say
United Irish Healthcare have been beyond any of my expectations. UIH had us sorted in a matter of hours. I cannot thank Daniel, Olivia and Jean enough — highly recommend.
Doireann Kate Gough
We use UIH for night care for our Mam. The staff have been fantastic — it is very personal and she is comfortable with her carers.
Orla Daly
For the last 8 months Mum has had two very kind carers fulfilling her wish to stay in her own home. The peace of mind is well worth it.
Verified Google review
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there a setup or placement fee?
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Yes. A one-time placement fee covers the work of assigning your carer and setting up the placement. Your care manager includes it in your quote, and a replacement carer never costs extra.
Can I decide which days and hours the carer works?
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Yes, you can specify the days and hours in accordance with your package. The number of days is flexible; a 24/7 package means a carer is available every day of the week.
Will I have the same carer consistently?
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Yes. You will have a designated primary carer, available except when on leave, on holiday, or unwell — when a reliable secondary carer familiar to the family and client steps in.
Does the carer have to live in the home full time?
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No. Our carers have their own homes and may return to them when they are off duty.
Questions about live-in care in Waterford
Cappoquin Day Care Centre is part of our loved one's week. Can that carry on with a live-in carer?
Yes. Cappoquin Day Care Centre is one of the Alzheimer Society's services in the county, and on day care mornings the live-in carer gets washing, dressing and breakfast done in good time, then is at home for your loved one's return. If getting there is the difficulty, tell your care manager, who can plan the morning around whatever transport you arrange.
What does the house need before a live-in carer arrives in rural west Waterford?
The carer needs their own bedroom, and you will agree together how meals will work. In places like Ballymacarbry or Villierstown, shopping, prescriptions and trips into Dungarvan or Lismore also need thinking through, and your care manager will settle all of this with you in advance. Time off is covered by the familiar backup carer, so the household does not have to find cover itself.
Can you arrange care in Gaeltacht na nDéise, on the Copper Coast or up in the Nire valley?
Yes, all of them. UIH's cover runs to every county in the Republic, and here that includes An Rinn, An Sean Phobal, Bunmahon, Annestown and the townlands around Ballymacarbry. For the more remote homes, the care manager can explain how visiting care or a carer living in would work before anything is agreed. Local Link's pre-booked rural services, such as the Nire route through Ballymacarbry and Kilmanahan to Clonmel, can help with trips to town on the days a carer is not calling.
Home for our loved one is on the Waterford side of Clonmel. Does the county line change anything?
Very little, as far as private care goes. The CSO counts part of Clonmel town as lying in County Waterford, and UIH arranges care in Waterford and Tipperary alike, so the address does not stop us helping. Tipperary South and Waterford are also in the same HSE health region, HSE Dublin and South East, and the same co-op, CareDoc, gives after-hours GP care to both. For getting about, Local Link's 356 runs from Ballinroad and Dungarvan to Clonmel.
Who can look at making the house safer for our loved one?
Waterford has a local Healthy Age Friendly Homes coordinator, listed in the council's Age Friendly Programme. Anyone aged 65 or over can refer themselves, or family, friends, a GP or a community group can refer them. The coordinator visits the home, looks at housing, health, energy and technology, and agrees a personal plan that may include adaptation grants or energy upgrades. On the money side, families paying for private home care use Form HK1 to claim relief, which runs up to 40% at their marginal rate.
Up to 40%
home-carer tax relief at your marginal rate
Relief is claimed on Form HK1 at your marginal rate. Always check your position with Revenue.
Other care we arrange in Waterford
Live-in Care in nearby counties
Live-in Care in Kilkenny · Live-in Care in Tipperary · Live-in Care in Cork · Live-in Care in Wexford
