Camden · Central London
Respite Care in Camden
Someone to take over at home while a Camden family carer has a break: an afternoon each week, a fortnight away, or the days after you fall ill yourself.
Yes, we provide respite care in Camden. We take over at home while the family carer has a break, either with visits and sit-in cover for a few hours at a time or with a live-in carer for a short stay while you are away. It starts with a free home assessment, so the stand-in carer knows the routine before you hand over.
Start with a carers conversation
Camden calls the carer's assessment under the Care Act a "carers conversation". It is your own assessment, separate from the person you look after, about how caring affects your health, work and life. It can lead to practical, emotional or financial help, including help towards paying for a break.
Who does it depends on whether social care is already involved. If the person you care for is known to Camden Adult Social Care, ask them for a carers conversation. If not, Camden Carers will do it with you: phone 020 7428 8950. If you are found eligible, the council can pay a carer budget as a direct payment, and you can spend it on a break, including respite cover from an agency like ours.
Camden Carers is the borough's carers centre, based at the Greenwood Centre on Greenwood Place in Kentish Town and funded by Camden Council and the NHS. It supports unpaid carers aged 18 and over who live, work or study in Camden, or who look after someone who lives there.
How do I get respite care in Camden?
For a planned break, such as a holiday, your own operation or a regular afternoon off, book the assessment as early as you can, so the person being cared for can meet the carer and the routine is written down before you leave. If Camden Council is paying, the break needs agreeing first through your carers conversation or the cared-for person's needs assessment. The council's Adult Social Care referral form is the way in if nobody is involved yet. Allow time for that step.
In an emergency, for example if you are suddenly admitted to UCH or the Royal Free and the person you look after cannot be left alone, phone Contact Camden on 020 7974 4444 (weekdays, 9am to 5pm) and say "Adult Social Care". If anyone is in immediate danger, call 999. You can call us as well, on 0203 375 4047 or 07446 010486 (also WhatsApp). Whether we can cover at short notice depends on which carers are free, and we will give you a straight answer.
Write it down now. A single page with medication, daily routine, GP, key contacts, where the keys are and the Contact Camden number (020 7974 4444) makes an emergency handover far safer, for us or for anyone else who steps in.
Three ways to cover a break at home
- Visiting cover. Carers come at the times you would normally help: the morning wash, lunch, bedtime. This works best in the south and centre of the borough, such as Bloomsbury, King's Cross, Camden Town and Kentish Town, which are about 30 to 40 minutes from our Lewisham office. Further north and west it depends on carer availability, so ask.
- Sit-in cover. A carer stays for a stretch of hours so you can go out, see a friend, or sleep. See our sit-in service.
- A short live-in stay. A carer moves in while you are away, anywhere in Camden, from a Highgate cottage to a flat in Kilburn. They need a bedroom. In a two-bedroom flat where you live with the person you care for, that can be your room while you're away.
Short stays away from home
For some adults, particularly younger adults with a learning disability or other support needs, a short stay somewhere new can give everyone a break. Our three supported living homes take respite stays, but none is in Camden. They are in Whitton (Twickenham), Kingston upon Thames and Uxbridge. Uxbridge is the easiest to reach: Uxbridge-bound Metropolitan line trains run straight there from King's Cross St Pancras, Euston Square and Finchley Road in about an hour. If the person is supported by the Camden Learning Disabilities Service (020 7974 3737) and the council is paying, talk to their social worker before you book.
Other breaks in Camden
Respite does not all have to come from one place. Age UK Camden runs day care at Henderson Court in Hampstead and at Great Croft on Cromer Street, near King's Cross, which offers specialist weekday day care for older people with complex needs. A regular day centre place gives a carer predictable time off every week. Camden Carers runs groups including a monthly Dementia Carers Group on Zoom, a Young Adult Carers service, and an online support tool for unpaid carers through Bridgit Care. For problems with any local health or care service, Healthwatch Camden can take your feedback.
What we can help with in Camden
- Regular visits so you can rest
- Live-in cover while you are away
- Planned breaks booked ahead
- Cover if the main carer is unwell
- Dementia-aware respite
- Short stays in our supported living homes
- Help with the carers' assessment route
- A care plan the family agrees
Areas of Camden we cover
Care across the borough, including these neighbourhoods. Each has its own page with local detail.
Our services
How we can help in Camden
From a few visits a week to a carer who lives in, choose the support that fits.
Camden FAQs
Respite care in Camden: carers' questions
Questions families ask us about Camden. If yours is not here, ask us directly.
Ask a questionCan a carer budget from Camden pay for respite from JNP Sidona?
It can, if your carers conversation finds you eligible and the council pays your carer budget as a direct payment. What it can be spent on is set out in your support plan, so check that a break with agency cover is included.
I care for my husband in Highgate and I'm going into the Whittington for an operation. What should we do?
Call us as soon as you have a date. We will do the assessment while you are still at home, so you can show the carer the routine yourself. A short live-in stay usually suits this, if there is a room for the carer. Check too whether your address is on the Camden or Haringey side, because that decides which council to ask about funding.
My mother has dementia and gets upset by new faces. How do you handle respite?
We try to introduce the carer before your break starts, while you are still there, and to keep the same carer for the whole stay where we can. Familiar routines, foods and music go into the care plan. Read more about our dementia care.
We live in Kilburn, on the Brent side of the High Road. Can you still help?
Yes, we cover both sides. The difference is the council: on the Brent side, carers' assessments and any funding go through Brent Council, and Camden Carers supports you only if you work or study in Camden or care for someone who lives there.
Is a supported living short stay the same as a care home respite bed?
Not quite. Supported living is built around helping adults live as independently as they can, with their own choices and routines, and it suits some people better than others. See the supported living page for what each home offers, and talk to us about whether it fits.
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