Respite Care in Harrow

Yes, we provide respite care for Harrow families. The most dependable option is a live-in carer who stays for the length of your break; visiting respite depends on whether we have a carer who can reach your address, because our office is in Lewisham. Every booking starts with a free home assessment and a written care plan, so the cover follows your routine, not ours.

Harrow Carers or the council: who does your carer's assessment?

Any adult looking after another adult unpaid is entitled to a free carer's assessment under the Care Act 2014, and in Harrow there are two doors to it. If the person you look after already gets council care, or Adult Social Care is already involved, the council does your assessment (020 8901 2680, AHAdults@harrow.gov.uk). Otherwise Harrow Carers, the local carers' charity at 376-378 Pinner Road in North Harrow, carries it out on the council's behalf: phone 020 8868 5224 or email adult.assessments@harrowcarers.org. The council's carer's assessment page explains the split.

The assessment is about you, not only the person you care for. It is where you say plainly that you need a break, how often, and what happens if you cannot carry on. It can lead to support for you in your own right, not only for the person you look after.

Can Harrow Council pay for respite care?

It can help, through two routes. Your carer's assessment may lead to support for you. Care for the person you look after while you are away is normally part of their own care needs assessment and care plan, and the council charges for it after a financial assessment of their income and savings. If the council agrees funding, you can ask for it as a direct payment and use it to book respite with an agency such as us.

If you are paying privately, we give you a written figure after the assessment. We do not quote prices over the phone, because a week of live-in cover for someone with advanced dementia and a few sit-in afternoons are very different things. Our guide to paying for care in London explains the means test and NHS Continuing Healthcare.

Cover at home: a few visits or a live-in stay

• Live-in respite. A carer moves in for the length of your break, from a long weekend to several weeks, and follows the care plan: personal care, medication, meals, the dog, the routine. Most Harrow houses have a spare room, which makes this easy to set up. Distance from our office does not matter once the carer has arrived.
• Visiting respite. A sit-in or a few hours of support so you can get out. In Harrow this depends on carer availability, so ask before you count on a regular slot.

For someone living with dementia, keeping them at home with one familiar carer is often less unsettling than a move for a week. See our dementia care page.

When caring stops without warning

If you suddenly cannot care, because you are in hospital yourself or have had a fall, the council's Adult Social Care line, 020 8901 2680, is also its number for urgent support; out of hours, call 020 8424 0999. If someone's safety is at risk, call 999. We can sometimes help in an emergency, but we will only say yes if we can actually staff it, so ring us and we will be straight with you.

The better protection is a planned arrangement: a care plan already written, a carer who has met the person, and a number to call. That is what an assessment with us gives you.

A short stay in Uxbridge, twenty minutes up the line

For some people, respite away from home suits better, particularly adults with a learning disability or physical disability who already know supported living. One of our supported living homes is in Uxbridge, which is a straightforward trip from Harrow: the Metropolitan line runs direct from Harrow-on-the-Hill, West Harrow and Rayners Lane in roughly 15 to 20 minutes, the Piccadilly line runs there from South Harrow and Rayners Lane, and by car it is about 20 to 30 minutes. Our other homes, in Whitton and Kingston upon Thames, are further. Short stays depend on a room being free and on an assessment that the home suits the person.

Breaks that keep going while care carries on

Respite is not only a fortnight away. Smaller, regular breaks are what keep many carers going:

• The council's support for unpaid carers includes the Conversation Café, an in-person drop-in on Tuesdays (020 4583 4088), and the Virtual Carers Centre, a free 24/7 online service run by Harrow Carers with Bridgit Care.
• Annie's Place and the dementia hubs at Milman's Neighbourhood Resource Centre, 74A Marlborough Hill, open Thursday and Friday mornings for people with dementia and their carers.
• Mind in Harrow, for carers whose own mental health is wearing thin; its helpline is 020 8426 0929.

A sit-in from us can be timed to let you get to these.

What we can help with in Harrow

• 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