Respite Care in Westminster

Yes, we provide respite care for people looking after a relative in Westminster. For a holiday or your own hospital stay, one of our carers can move in for a few days or weeks; for a regular afternoon off, a carer can come and sit, which is most realistic in Pimlico, Victoria, Belgravia, Marylebone and the West End. Everything starts with a free assessment at home.

Start with a carer's assessment

If you look after someone without being paid, you're entitled to an assessment of your own needs under the Care Act, separate from theirs. In Westminster you can request a carer's assessment through People First, the information site the council shares with Kensington and Chelsea, or by calling Adult Social Care on 020 7641 2500. Carers Network, the carers' charity for Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea and Hammersmith and Fulham, can also carry out the assessment and gives advice before you start; call 020 8960 3033 or see its directory listing.

The council says eligible carers may get a Carer's Personal Budget. Breaks for you may also be met through care for the person you look after, so make sure their needs assessment is current. In either assessment, say plainly how often you need time off, what you'd need if you were ill, and who else can step in. The council's support for carers page lists what's on offer.

Is respite care free in Westminster?

Not automatically. If the council assesses the person you care for as eligible for replacement care, it then carries out a financial assessment, and what they contribute depends on their income and savings. The council's support can be taken as a direct payment and spent with a registered agency you choose. If you arrange respite privately, we give you a written figure after the assessment. We don't quote over the phone. Our guide to paying for care in London explains the means test in more detail.

A weekly afternoon off

Regular sitting cover only helps if the carer turns up on the same afternoon every week, so the journey decides it. A standing slot is easiest to promise in the SW1 and West End streets that sit at the end of the direct Southeastern lines into Victoria and Charing Cross. North of the Marylebone Road and out in W2 and W9, the extra Tube leg means we check which carers are free before agreeing a fixed afternoon, and tell you before you build your work week around it.

A sitting visit can include a meal, medication prompts and personal care if needed. It suits someone living with dementia who can't safely be left alone while you go to work, see a friend, or sleep.

Cover for a fortnight away

For longer breaks, a short live-in stay is the steadiest option and works anywhere in the city, because the carer travels in once. It needs a spare bedroom, which in Westminster is easier in a St John's Wood house or a larger Maida Vale mansion flat than in a one-bedroom estate flat. Book well ahead of the dates, so there's time for an assessment and for the carer to meet the person before you leave. It's also a sensible way to find out whether long-term live-in care would suit.

If you suddenly can't carry on

Carers fall ill, have accidents, or are admitted to St Mary's or St Thomas' themselves. If that happens, call Westminster Adult Social Care on 020 7641 2500; the same number reaches the council's emergency and out-of-hours team. If anyone is in immediate danger, call 999. Then call us: we'll tell you straight away whether we can get a carer into the home and when, and we won't promise cover we can't staff.

Write an emergency plan now, while things are calm: who has a key, where the medication list is kept, the GP's number, and who to ring first. Your carer's assessment is the right place to agree it with the council.

Short stays outside the city

Our three supported living homes, in Whitton, Kingston upon Thames and Uxbridge, take respite stays as well as permanent residents. From Victoria, Pimlico or Westminster, Whitton is about 40 to 55 minutes by public transport, via Vauxhall or Waterloo and South Western Railway. From Marylebone, Paddington or St John's Wood, Uxbridge is about 45 to 55 minutes on the Metropolitan line from Baker Street. Talk to us first about whether a home suits the person's needs, and if the council is paying, the stay has to be agreed with the social worker.

A few hours back each month

• Age UK Westminster's dementia service runs a cognitive stimulation group at St Marylebone Parish Church on Marylebone Road and the Heart of Westminster Memory Café on the third Monday of each month at the Salvation Army's Regent Hall, 275 Oxford Street.
• Open Age runs activities and befriending for people aged 50 and over across Westminster and Kensington and Chelsea.
• The Westminster Memory Service, run by CNWL at 42 Westbourne Park Road, W2 (020 3317 3666), is the NHS memory assessment service for the borough.

What we can help with in Westminster

• 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