Respite - is it out there?

[francisbarrett]

Hi everyone,

Hope you don't mind but I'm writing here on behalf of my carer. As well as having been on maintenance for many years I am also disabled, sometimes chronically ill and needing physiotherapy three times a day, help to get around, etc. My carer has been looking after me since 1990 and has never been given any respite. Sadly she's bipolar herself and is very down at the moment and desperately needs a break. Has anyone ever heard of the carer of a disabled addict being able to get respite? At the moment her psychiatrist is trying to get improvement in her daily life before looking at long term meds, and social services have just been in touch and are wanting to look at our benefits situation first. But although services are very good in the district we're living in now, I remember back in the bad days of being under Reading when they stated getting a respite home to take an addict was impossible. Has anyone heard to the contrary? Has she any hope of getting a rest?

Thanks for reading this,
best wishes,
Francis

[saramcgrail]

Your carer needs to get what's called a Carer's Assessment from the Social Services department. This should be undertaken at the same time as any benefit check. The carer's assessment is the passport to a number of different services (in theory at least). The cause of your condition shouldn't come into it, it is the degree of care the individual needs to provide that's critical. Respite care support will be different in different places. If the care provided is about you having residential care for a short period of time, your addiction - assuming you're stable and scripted or whatever - should not be the key issue, but rather the focus should be on ensurring the residential service provider are able to meet your needs. They may also look at enabling your carer to go away while they provide support in the home to you.

Hope this is useful

Sara

[francisbarrett]

Thanks, Sara, that's very useful. I've been on scripts and stable for close on 10-15 years. Trouble we had in the last district we lived in was they just couldn't see beyond the word "addict". Any tips on how to get them to focus on the simple "physically diasbled person's carer needs respite" and to see beyond the word "addict"?

Thanks again,
Francis

[willow]

hi Francis, i am no expert on this but could you not tell them about being an addict and just mention the other needs? its obvious you both need the support so maybe its best to be frugal with the truth, you could always tell them about your addiction at a later date.
X

[saramcgrail]

Hi Francis

Its important to remember that the carer's assessment is an assessment of the *carer's* needs, so your drug use should not be an issue at all when looking at whether respite is necessary or not.  This assessment is the critical thing - once the need is established the Local Authority will have some obligation to provide a service to meet it. When your drug use may - but probably should not - become an issue, is when the placement is sought for you to enable your carer to get the break. To help mitigate the concerns and prejudices of any residential facility, it would be a good idea for you to discuss with your current treatment provider or better still GP about them giving information to Social Services about your need.  If this still doesn't help, it may be that the local authority will look at other ways of providing support - like help for you to stay at home while your carer goes away or short term respite care on a day basis. It is only necessary for you to disclose your history of substance use when it becomes relevant. Certainly in the first stages of the carers assessment it would seem not to be an issue you need to raise.

It may be an idea to contact the helpline for further advice. Obviously I'm only able to be quite general here, and talking to someone on the helpline may enable you to get better advice.

All the best for the new year

Sara

[Lelee]

Hi Francis

Sara has given you excellent advice. To expand on that I'd like to say that I used to work at Social Services in my other life and our local authority's policy was that anyone with a disability, or their carer, should be provided with up to four weeks respite care a year. 

There's also the possibility of a holiday together. I used to also research charities and find ones that provided and catered for holidays for people with disabilities and their families. The fact that you're on methadone shouldn't come into it really. How do they know that it's not prescribed for pain control? Not that it should make any difference.

From what you're saying about having a financial assessment it sounds like the local suthority are looking at providing a care package to you, or the funds so you can buy care yourselves. Find out what their policy is on respite care and get that included into your care package. Think about the holidays too, it sounds like you both deserve one. It's been a long while since I looked into this but seem to remember Winged Fellowships used to be one resource. Have a look on the net. 

Take care

Linda 

[Lelee]

Hi, found the link to Revitalise which was the Winged Fellowship until 2004. They provide short breaks and respite care services to people with disabilites and/or their carers.  Hope it helps.

Linda

www.revitalise.org.uk

[Lelee]

Ooops, just testing......

No, its:

www.vitalise.org.uk

Linda