Respite Care in Ealing

Yes, we can cover a break for unpaid carers anywhere in Ealing. The most reliable way is a short live-in stay, where one of our carers moves in for the days or weeks you are away. Shorter visiting cover depends on carer availability in your part of the borough. You can book privately after a free assessment, or ask Ealing Council for a carer's assessment first to see what it will fund.

What Ealing offers carers who need a break

Ealing's starting point is a carer's assessment. It looks at the care you give, who helps you, how it is affecting your own health, and what would make things easier. The council says it can lead to a break from caring and to a plan for what happens if an emergency stops you caring. You can fill in the carer's self-assessment form online, or call the Social Care Advice and Referral Centre on 020 8825 8000.

Three other sources of help are worth knowing about:

• Ealing Carers Hub, at Sycamore Lodge on Edgecote Close in Acton (020 3137 6194), gives one-to-one advice, help with forms and benefits, and coffee mornings for anyone 18 or over caring for an adult who lives in Ealing.
• Ealing Carers Partnership (020 3475 9891), part of Carers Trust Hillingdon and Ealing, which the council says offers respite care, a carers' cafe and one-to-one counselling. It is listed on the council's support for carers page.
• A carer's one-off direct payment of up to £150 a year, which the council says can go towards the cost of a short break. The funds are limited and handed out first come, first served, so apply early through a social worker, an authorised carers worker or the carers centre. You can apply even if you have not had a carer's assessment.

Is respite care free in Ealing?

Not always. Support for the carer is not charged, but care for the person you look after is means-tested in the usual way. Ealing sets out its rules on its short stay and respite charging page. If the person already gets council-funded help at home, up to eight weeks a year of short stays in a care home are charged the same way as their home care. After eight weeks, the council charges as if they were living in a care home. Someone who gets no help at home is charged at the care home rate for a short stay.

If you arrange respite with us privately, we give a written figure after the assessment, based on the length of the break and the help needed.

A break without anyone leaving home

A carer moves in while you are away

For a holiday, a family wedding or your own operation, a short live-in stay is the most dependable cover we can give in Ealing. Stays run from a long weekend to several weeks. It works as well in Northolt as in Acton, because once the carer is in the house, our distance from the borough stops mattering. It does need a spare bedroom, which the 1930s semis of Greenford and Perivale usually have and some converted flats in West Ealing and Northfields do not. See live-in care in Ealing.

A few hours out each week

Weekly cover depends on having a carer living close enough to come back each week, which is more realistic around Acton, Ealing Broadway and Hanwell than in Southall or Northolt. A sit-in can work well for someone with dementia who should not be left alone. Ask us, and we will say plainly whether we can staff it before you build your week around it.

When something happens and you can't carry on caring

Unplanned breaks are the hardest: your own fall, an admission to Ealing Hospital, a family emergency abroad. Agree an emergency plan at your carer's assessment while things are calm. Ealing's emergency duty team can activate a carer's emergency support plan out of hours if you hold a carer's emergency card. It covers weekday evenings and nights from 5pm to 9am, from 5pm Friday to 9am Monday, and all day on bank holidays, on 020 8825 8000.

You can also call us. We will tell you straight away whether we can put a carer into the house and when. We will not promise cover we cannot staff.

A short stay at our home in Uxbridge

Sometimes the right break is a short stay away. We run three supported living homes, in Whitton, Kingston upon Thames and Uxbridge, and they take respite stays as well as permanent residents. Uxbridge is the nearest for most of Ealing: the Piccadilly line runs there from Ealing Common and Acton Town, and from Northolt or Southall it is a short drive. From Northfields, Whitton is also within reach via Hounslow. Ask us first whether it suits the person's needs.

For adults with a learning disability, the council also runs a Short Breaks service with overnight stays and staff on hand 24 hours a day, reached through a social worker's assessment and referral.

Breaks outside the house

A regular day away gives a carer hours back each week. Age UK Ealing's Wellbeing Day Centre meets in Greenford on Mondays and Thursdays for people who manage their own personal care, and the council's Michael Flanders Centre in Acton takes older people through a support plan. The council's dementia listing includes the St Barnabas memory cafe on Pitshanger Lane on Thursday mornings, Hanwell Neighbourly Care drop-ins, and Southall Day Centre on Shackleton Road.

What we can help with in Ealing

• 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