Respite care

Caring for someone can be physically and emotionally exhausting. And it might feel hard to find time to look after yourself. You might feel unable to leave the person you care for. But taking a break could help you avoid feeling overwhelmed. Find out what respite means, the different types of respite care and how you could get them.

Respite care is when you take a break from caring, while someone else looks after the person you care for. It’s sometimes called respite, or a respite break. Respite care can be arranged in different places including at home, a care home, or a hospice.

Respite care could be for a few hours, a day, or longer. For example, if you are going on holiday.

Emergency respite care is respite care arranged at short notice, if you cannot care for someone as normal. For example, due to an accident, illness, or other urgent situations. Emergency respite care is sometimes called urgent respite care instead.

You might be able to get emergency respite care through your local council. Or through your local Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland. If you need to contact them out of hours, you could search for the number online. Search for things like:

For support within normal working hours, see How to get respite care below.

Services that offer regular respite care may also offer emergency respite care. For example, care homes, or homecare providers.

It may not always be possible to get emergency respite care through these services. Instead you may have other people you could ask for support at short notice. For example, family, friends, or a neighbour.

Make sure they have key information about the person. We’ve included some examples below.

Planning for emergencies can help ease worry for you and the person you care for. Carers UK have information and an online tool to help you create a plan for emergencies.

It can be hard to recognise you might need a break when you have a lot to manage. Everyone is different, but it could be time to consider a break if you:

Some carers feel guilty for thinking about their own needs, or for needing a break. But it’s important to look after yourself too. Caring for someone, especially towards the end of life, can have a huge impact on your physical and mental health.

A break can benefit the person you care for too. They could meet different people and try new things. It could also mean you have different things to talk about. Changing the focus and conversations away from their illness may be a welcome change for some people.

The respite care services available will depend on where you live. These might include the following:

Talk to the person you care for about taking a break, and what arrangement might work best for you both. It may not always be possible to get the type of respite care you would prefer. But there are different options you could try.

Your local council, or Health and Social Care Trust in Northern Ireland, may be able to arrange respite care. They will assess your needs and the needs of the person you care for.

The assessments may be called different things depending on where you live. For example yours may be called a carer’s assessment, or an Adult Carer Support Plan. The assessment for the person you care for may be called a care needs assessment, or assessment of need.

The respite care services available and how easy they are to access will vary between areas. This will also depend on the outcome of your assessments. For example, your council or Trust may say they will fund some types of respite care but not others.

Call your council or Trust or visit their website to find out how they might be able to help.

Not all hospices offer respite care. Some hospices provide free respite care, and others may charge for this service.

The services offered during a respite stay will vary between hospices. For example, these may include managing symptoms, and providing social and emotional support. Some hospices may also offer complementary therapies, physiotherapy, or advance care planning.

Hospice respite care is usually for people with a terminal or life-limiting illness, or others with palliative care needs. Each hospice has different criteria for who they can offer respite care to. Contact your local hospice for information about the services they offer.

Marie Curie does not provide respite care. But we do provide other services and support you may find helpful. This includes our Hospice care at home service – please note the availability of this service varies between areas.

You and the person you care for may wish to organise respite care yourselves. Most of these are services you’d need to pay for.

You could hire a carer directly or through an agency. This type of care is sometimes called homecare. Your local council or Health and Social Care Trust should have information about local homecare agencies.

The availability of respite care services will vary between care homes. Some care homes take bookings for planned dates, but it may be hard to get a respite space at short notice. Contact your local care home to find out what they can offer.

Carers UK have information about finding a care home.

You may have friends or family who could help. You could speak to them about options like:

Speak with the person you care for to see who and what they’d be comfortable with.

Respite holidays, day centres and sitting services may be available through charities or carer organisations. Carers Trust has information about some of these types of respite services. Your local council or Health and Social Care Trust may also have information about day centres.

Marie Curie provides free Community Companions and Companion at home services in some areas. The Companion service volunteers can offer emotional and practical support, signposting, and short episodes of respite. This can be in people’s own homes and other community settings.

Respite care services might be paid for by your local council or Trust, a charity, or in some cases the NHS. Or, you or the person you care for may pay for it.

Some people with long-term complicated health needs can get NHS continuing healthcare (NHS CHC). It pays for all of someone’s health and social care. This may include respite care if this is included in the person’s care and support package. There is a fast-track process for people whose condition is getting worse quickly, and are nearing the end of life.

NHS CHC is available in England and Wales. There are different services in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

For your local council or Trust to pay for respite care, you’d need to:

The financial assessment works out how much the council or Trust will pay towards the care.

You may be able to get a grant to help pay for a respite break through:

A professional like your GP, nurse or social worker may need to refer you or help you make an application.

You or the person you care for may need to pay if you cannot get support through the options above. Respite care can be expensive, and benefits could help to cover costs. You could use our free benefits calculator to check if you or the person you care for are entitled to benefits.

It can be frustrating and upsetting if the person you’re caring for refuses respite care if you need a break. If it becomes a problem, try speaking with the person’s GP, or social worker or district nurse if they have one. They can help explain why it’s important you have a break from caring. And they could guide the conversation so that everyone’s heard, and help find a solution that works.

You could start by trying shorter breaks. Someone the person is comfortable with could check in on them or provide care. You could try services like a sitting or day care service, or homecare for one day or night. During longer breaks, you could ask different people to visit them. For example to keep them company for a few hours, or to take shopping round to them.

These conversations can be difficult – if you’d like support, call our free Support Line on 0800 090 2309 or email support@mariecurie.org.uk.