Residential Care Home Southport
Our residents are encouraged to spend time socialising and taking part in our activities programmes but are given independence of choice throughout their stay.
A family run residential home since 1980, Benridge changed to Dementia category in 2004 and have since provided dementia care and 24 hour support.
RESPITE CARE
Respite n. Pause, interval of rest; delay.Often respite care can be found with the incorrect spelling of either restbite or rest bite care. The following information aims to display the benefits and reasons behind respite care as a concept.
Once you get to a certain age many people often have to rely on the good nature of their family and/or close friends to look after them on a day to day basis. Whether this takes the form of menial tasks around the house, completing the daily shop, or washing and bathing, making sure medication is taken. It can be a gruelling lifestyle for those who undertake it.
Historically close family members would perform these day to day tasks for parents and close relatives as a matter of duty and pride. In modern day Britain the makeup of an average family has changed to such a degree that care for one’s family members is not always possible. Many people move out of the areas that they grew up in, in search of work and a new life, leaving those behind with an even greater burden in those cases where an elderly or infirm family member is in need of daily care. There is little time and chance for holiday’s or even one off day vacations to ease the strain that this type of care imposes on someone, no matter how much love is going in to the task.
Respite care allows these selfless care givers some recuperation time occasionally, in a physical and emotional sense. This can be to take care of personal or family matters of importance, in unforeseen circumstances, illness or just to take a vacation. Without the capacity to renew and strengthen one’s self from time to time, the care givers would possibly give a lower standard of care to their loved one and although seemingly giving them over to strangers for the short term can be a wrench, it is also sometimes a necessity to ensure the highest possible standard of care over the long term.
There are a number of different forms that respite care can take, in home respite care; assisted living respite care; and foster respite care.
The most common form of respite care is in home, where care workers visit patients at their homes. They often stay with them on the premises for the entirety of their visit. Although a sometimes expensive proposition in the short term, it allows the least damage of personal routine and structure to the patient and allows the day to day carers the peace of mind that their loved one is stable in familiar surroundings.
A rarer method of respite care is foster care. This requires the patient be moved temporarily into the care givers home, where the care is provided for the duration of the respite care. This provides home surroundings, although not the patient’s own and is not as readily available as other methods of respite care.
Assisted living respite care is the other option available to care givers looking for a break from their care routine. When there is the space available, some residential centres can offer a service of temporary housing and care. This can sometimes be seen as an opportunity to experiment with the possibility of the patient being moved into the residential setting on a permanent basis in the future without having to first commit to such a proposal. It also gives the carer a safety in knowledge that their loved one is in a secure environment that is geared towards such care giving. Although there is always the initial fear of moving into the unknown, assisted living respite care gives the perfect chance for the person to get to know staff and fellow residents and view a potentially uplifting alternative to continued care when their family member/carer returns after the allotted period of time away.
Respite care can offer an alleviation of stress, anxiety and the day to day grind, giving hope to many carers and those they care for. It is an alternative that is popular and effective in the majority of cases.