Respite Care
Nearly 7 million people in the UK are carers and look after a relative or
friend who cannot manage without help because of sickness, age or disability.
Caring for a person with dementia is both traumatic and exhausting. It
is a 24 hour, 7 day a week job. This means that carers too, need help and
support in maintaining independence.
Brighton & Hove City Council administers money from the Carers
Grant to support people in a caring role. See their website for details of Carers’ Grant
breaks and services for carers of adults. The Brighton
Alzheimer’s
Society offers help with
respite travel costs.
Respite care which is designed to offer a rest from the caring role, is offered
in four forms. The first three are timetabled as home respite, day care and
residential respite. Home respite is ideally offered to a reliable daily
or weekly timetable.
Brighton and Hove Adult Social Care offer some day care for people with dementia
at Ireland Lodge Resource Centre in Woodingdean and the Brighton Alzheimer’s
Society offer day care for working age adults at The
Towner Club.
Anchor Trust’s Partridge House in Bevendean is providing a residential
respite care service under contract to South
Downs NHS Trust. Anchor’s two timetabled respite places are bookable
for up to one week to give carers a break. Brighton and Hove City Council’s
Mental Health Service Placement Bureau can be telephoned on 01273 265523
to discuss eligibility.
The fourth type is emergency respite. South Downs NHS Trust offers the Community
Advice and Support Team for older people with mental health problems. This
rapid response team is available 7 days a week from 8:00am to 10:00pm for
home appointments. Anyone can call this service on 01273 295940.
As yet there is little official provision of urgently needed timetabled respite
care. ARDIS’ efforts to pump-prime in this area have faltered due to
the shortage of skilled staff available to offer personal care to people
with
dementia in their home.
Home | Alzheimer's Disease | Respite
Care | Residential Care | Early
Onset Dementia
Planning for Care | Events
Calendar | Contacts | Text Only Version
