Caring for an elderly loved one who has dementia is a crucially important task. That can make it immensely rewarding – but also tiring both physically and mentally. Carers may find it difficult to stay constantly alert to risks and dementia behaviours, knowing that if they miss something, their loved one could be in danger.

That’s just one reason why respite care for dementia patients is important. It allows carers time to mentally recover so that they can go back to caring with the focus it needs.

But how do you access dementia respite care if you’re in the UK? And what is respite care, anyway?

In this article, we’ll discuss the whole picture of respite care, including how to get it and how it benefits both the person with dementia and their carer.

What is respite care?

Respite care is when a replacement carer or care organisation takes over a person’s care for a short period of time. This gives the usual carer ‘respite’ – a break that lets them take care of essential tasks and take care of their own wellbeing.

Respite care can vary in length from several hours to a week or two – and there are a few different types available.

Note that not all types of respite care are suitable for all types of dementia. Some older people with more advanced dementia might need more intense and specialised care because they may suffer from hallucinations or other symptoms that require more attention to their safety.

Day centres

A dementia day centre, such as those from Age UK, is just what it sounds like – a location designed to support people with dementia during the day while their carers do other tasks. This is typically not an everyday service, so it’s not suitable for people working full-time and caring for elderly parents. But it is great to provide a day off for carers.

Activity or therapy classes for people with dementia

You can also check whether there are simple classes or therapy groups for people with dementia near you. These are usually suited for seniors in the earlier stages of dementia, and they can be very beneficial as they help dementia sufferers stay socially connected and active.

Obviously, the main goal of these classes is to help the person with dementia, not the carer. But they can also give the carer some respite to take care of errands for an hour.

Short stay in a care home

Care homes aren’t just for permanent residents. Some care homes offer respite stays, allowing visitors to come for a week or two. This can be helpful if family members would like to go on holiday and can’t safely bring along their relative with dementia. This can be especially important if the person with dementia often wants to wander away in crowds or away from home – which means it’s too risky to take them to a location that’s not adapted for people with dementia.

Not all care homes offer this service, but it’s definitely worth looking into if you’re interested.

Care in the person with dementia’s own home

If the person with dementia is more comfortable in a familiar space, it’s also possible to have a temporary carer come to offer respite care in their own home.

For a person in earlier stages of dementia, a ‘sitting service’ from a charity could help. With this service, a volunteer simply comes to sit and chat with the person with dementia for an hour or two – much like a social visit between friends. Of course, this option isn’t suited for a person with dementia who has considerable care needs.

For those with more advanced dementia, a paid carer can offer care in the home for the person with dementia. This could be for a few days to give the usual carer an extended break, or on a routine basis, such as one day each week.

Why is respite care needed?

So, why is this type of care so important?

As we’ve mentioned, respite care gives carers a break from worry and vigilance. It’s a period of time when they don’t have to be constantly on alert for their loved one’s wellbeing.

Caring for someone with dementia can be emotionally draining, too. It can be hard to see an elderly parent or spouse suffer from dementia symptoms. And some people with dementia can become aggressive, too. For example, they may misplace their possessions and then accuse their carers of stealing from them.

Respite care allows carers to take care of their own emotions and unwind.

But that’s not all. Respite care provides practical benefits, too. Carers for dementia patients may find it difficult to complete everyday tasks like house-cleaning or running errands while they’re caring 24/7. A short break from caring can allow the carer to get these jobs done.

And it’s good for bigger tasks, too. Let’s say a family is remodelling their bathroom to have dementia-friendly and mobility adaptations. It might be hard to do so while a person with dementia is at home becoming frightened and confused by the noise. But if they have a short stay in a care home, they can return to a bathroom that’s more suited to their needs.

Overall, it’s easy to see that respite care is good for both the carer and the person receiving care. When a carer is emotionally refreshed and has time to do essential tasks, they can provide better care to their loved one with dementia.

Who pays for respite care?

There are several options for obtaining respite care.

Your first step should always be seeing how much help your local council will provide. If you find you need more care than is provided by your local authority, you can pay for it yourself or seek help from a charity.

How to find respite care near me?

From your council

To see whether your local council will provide respite care, both the carer and the person receiving care will need to undergo assessments by the council.

The carer should receive a carer’s assessment, while the person with dementia should receive a needs assessment. To apply for a carer’s assessment, start by using the NHS tool to find your local adult social care services. To apply for a needs assessment, use the government’s online tool for finding the relevant info from your local authority.

Based on these assessments, your council might decide that you’re entitled to respite care. If not, you can move on to the below options.

Respite care paid for by yourself or charities

Age UK has fantastic resources about support for people with dementia, including information about dementia day centres and activities. If you need further advice, give them a call on their number listed on the page.

Re-engage’s tea parties and activity groups may also be a good option for seniors in earlier stages of dementia. Speak to your local organisers to see if there are events that are a good fit.

Carers’ Trust has great information about befriending and sitting services as well as resources about grants for respite care.

To find paid homecare providers and services, use the NHS’s lookup tool to see listings of these services and whether your local homecare services meet Care Quality Commission standards.

You can also use the NHS tools to find local care homes and nursing homes, which you can then contact to see whether they provide respite stays.

Steps that can support and complement respite care

If you’re feeling a need for respite care, consider these further steps that can help ease some of the worries and difficulties of caring.

Carer’s leave

Since 2024, carers in the UK have been entitled to unpaid carer’s leave. This is one week of leave (based on how much you work in a week) every twelve months. The purpose of the leave is to allow you to focus on caring for that length of time.

So, if you’re struggling to balance work responsibilities and care for an older parent with dementia, this can help. If the person you’re caring for is having an operation, you could take carer’s leave to support them. Or if they’re having increased symptoms and you’re trying to work out a higher level of care to support them, you could take carer’s leave to focus on handling these issues.

Tech

Another key resource to draw on is technology. One difficulty of caring is knowing that the person you’re caring for might need your help at any moment – so you may worry about what might happen when you’re at the supermarket or attending to another task.

For example, since confusion and movement difficulties can both be symptoms of dementia, it’s not uncommon for people with dementia to fall. This may even happen at night when their carer is sleeping.

Some people with dementia may also try to leave their homes because they don’t recognise where they are and want to “go home” – resulting in them going missing, possibly in extreme weather. Further, a medical crisis not related to dementia can be riskier in a person with dementia because they may not have the ability to dial a phone to say something is wrong.

All of these situations can be dangerous. But there is a way to ensure people with dementia can get help even when their carer isn’t right by their side. A personal alarm for the elderly offers numerous functions to protect seniors with dementia when a crisis strikes.

For example, a simple one-touch SOS button allows older people with dementia to call for help if they’re no longer able to use a phone. This can offer peace of mind to a carer who is out running errands.

More advanced alarms also offer automatic fall detection. With this feature, the alarm uses sensors to assess whether its wearer has fallen. If the alarm believes it has sensed a fall, it will call for help all by itself – no need for any button to be pressed.

And specialised lockable dementia tracker alarms can include GPS tracking and even geo-fencing. This can be great for dementia patients who wander as it allows family to know their location at all times. And a geo-fence lets family members define where it’s safe for the older person with dementia to be – so if they wander too far away from home, the alarm will send out an alert.

Added together, these functions act as a crucial support for both carers and people with dementia. Carers can feel assured that there’s a second layer of safety in place for moments when they’re not right by the person with dementia, while the person with dementia has protection if time-sensitive and dangerous emergency events occur.

How SureSafe provides backup protection for carers and people with dementia

It can be stressful for carers to know that the safety of their loved one with dementia is entirely on their shoulders – particularly because no person can monitor another 24/7. That’s why people with dementia need specialised personal alarms to serve as a backup to care from a loved one.

At SureSafe, we know how important these devices can be. That’s why we’ve been a trusted provider of elderly personal alarms since 2012, with a glowing rating on Trustpilot and over 150,000 alarms sold worldwide.

Our alarms are easy to use, affordable and reliable. They’re here to protect your elderly loved one with dementia and provide support for carers, too.

If you’d like to know more about how a SureSafe personal alarm could protect your older relative with dementia, give us a call on 0808 189 1671, reach out through our live chat or request a call back. Our expert team will be glad to help.