Hi,

Im new on the forum and in the last year or so I became the main carer for my brother who has a learning disability. During this tiime I had to fight to get respite breaks for my family. Because of this I became curious about respite and respite provision in different areas and began to wonder if I was being to fussy about the level of care that he was receiving. I was wondering other peoples experience, particularly:

* Do you currently receive respite? Did you have difficulty accessing this?
* How many nights per year are you allocated for respite?
* How do you prefer to use your allocation. E. g one or two week break or a few night when required
* Is your respite provided by your local council?
* Would you consider using a private respite facility via direct payments? (I personally am not sure abou this)
* What do you like about your current respite or what changes would you make?
* would you like to be able to access respite at short notice?

I am curious to know opinons on this to see if it was just me who had problems. It makes you feel so alone.

Thank you in advance and any adice you can give on respite would be gratefully received

Sophie

x

Hello Sophie

I've recently joined Mencap  to work on  the website. I see nobody responded to your query about respite and short breaks.

Have you looked  on Mencap's website about  short breaks and respite? You might find some info in there that could be useful or it may lead you on to get some feedback.

Lucy

Hi Sophie I am a singel father looking after my 25 year old son who is severely handicapped. My biggest frustration is with the social workers who don't care about parents and don't keep in regular contact . At present I receive no respite at all since the place we were using has closed. And I have not been offered any alternative. As a 62 year old who has been having some health problems I find the whole social services a complete waste of time. I understand what you mean by the lonliness, as there really is a shortage of people who actually care and coan offer advice. Sorry if I haven't been much help I just wanted you to know that you are not alone in feeling the way that you do.
Arthur