Respite Care in Hounslow

Yes, we provide respite care for unpaid carers across Hounslow. The cover we can always arrange is a short live-in stay, where one of our carers moves into the home for a few days or a few weeks while you rest, travel or recover. We can also offer short stays at our supported living home in Whitton, next door to the borough, and shorter visiting cover where we have carers nearby.

Start with the council's own Carers Service

Hounslow has no separate independent carers' centre. Support for carers is run by the council itself, through a Carers Service with Carers Advisers who attend library Community Hub sessions, hold information tables at West Middlesex University Hospital and can sometimes visit at home. There are also carers' cafes and a Carers Participation Group. The council's support for carers page has the details, or email carers@hounslow.gov.uk.

The key that unlocks most of the council's help is a carer's assessment. You can request one online or through the Adult Social Care First Contact Team on 020 8583 3100. It looks at what you do, what it costs you in health and time, and what would help, including regular breaks.

Hounslow's Short Breaks service

Once you have had a carer's assessment, you can ask for the council's Short Breaks service, delivered for Hounslow by Harlington Care. A paid support worker looks after the person you care for at home while you go out. The worker can help with personal care, eating and drinking, medication (with the right training), appointments and outings. The hours depend on your circumstances and are reviewed. The person you care for must live in Hounslow and be 18 or over.

That service gives you regular hours. It is not designed to cover a fortnight away, so families often combine it with longer private cover from an agency such as us.

Do carers pay for respite in Hounslow?

Hounslow says carer support services are among the things it provides free. Care for the person you look after is a different matter: the council means-tests it, and its guide to paying for care says people with savings or assets of £23,250 or more usually pay the full cost. Ask at the assessment how any break will be charged before you rely on it.

If you book with us privately, you get a written figure after our free assessment, based on how long the break is and how much help is needed. Council funding agreed as a direct payment can be used to pay us. Our guide to paying for care in London explains the routes.

Respite we can provide at home

A short live-in stay

For a holiday, a family celebration abroad or your own operation at West Middlesex, a short live-in stay is the most reliable cover we offer in Hounslow. The carer arrives once and stays, so the distance from our Lewisham office doesn't come into it. They need a bedroom of their own, which the interwar semis of Heston, Hanworth, Feltham and Bedfont often have, and which a one-bedroom flat in Brentford or Chiswick may not. A booked stay can also serve as a trial before longer-term live-in care.

A regular afternoon off

A weekly sit-in, so you can go to the shops or a carers' cafe, depends on us having a carer who lives near you. We will tell you straight whether we can staff it in your part of the borough before you plan around it.

If you suddenly can't carry on caring

Arrange two things while life is calm. First, a carer's emergency card, which is free once you have had a carer's assessment. It sets out a plan for the person you care for for at least 48 hours if you have an accident or fall ill. Second, know that in a crisis the council says an emergency Short Break can be considered at short notice, usually within one working day, with a review within a month.

You can call us too. We will tell you honestly whether we can put a carer into the house and from when. We don't promise cover we cannot staff.

A short stay in Whitton, one stop from Hounslow

Sometimes the best break is time apart. We run three supported living homes, in Whitton, Kingston upon Thames and Uxbridge, which take respite stays as well as permanent residents. Whitton is just across the River Crane in Richmond upon Thames, one stop from Hounslow station on the Hounslow Loop, or a short drive from Isleworth, Hanworth or Feltham. Uxbridge can suit families in Cranford and Heston, and Kingston is reachable from Hanworth. Call us first to check the home suits the person's needs. If they have a Hounslow social worker, involve them, especially if you hope for council funding.

Days out that give carers time back

• Homelink Day Respite Centre, a Whitton charity listed by Hounslow Council, offers day respite for older people and their unpaid carers.
• Age UK Hounslow runs its Vintage Club at Southville Community Centre in Feltham, Monday to Wednesday, for people who manage their own personal care, and a free Dementia Station there on Tuesdays for people with dementia and their carers.
• Sandbanks Day Care Centre in Feltham is run by the council and reached through a social care assessment.

What we can help with in Hounslow

• 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