The Double-Sided Benefits of Respite Care at Baxendale

Caring for a loved one with a chronic illness or disability can be incredibly rewarding, but it can also be physically and emotionally exhausting. That’s where respite care comes in.

At Baxendale we offer respite care home services in the heart of North London. This has plenty of benefits not just for caregivers, but for their loved ones as well. Here we explain why.

Respite Care at Baxendale Care Home

Respite care is offered not to the caregiver, but to the person they are caring for – sometimes this can get confused.

At Baxendale, most of the respite care we offer is for people who have recently undergone an operation or have spent time in hospital. For more details about our post-surgery rehabilitation stays, check out our previous blog post here.

We also offer short term stays to give respite to family members or existing carers. If you want this to be funded by the local authority, you will need to be assessed first – in the form of a carer’s assessment (for the carer) and a needs assessment (for the care receiver).

How the Caregiver Benefits from Respite Care

As a caregiver, you benefit because you get a break from your caring responsibilities – which will vary depending on the condition of your loved one. It may be a break from doing odd jobs in the home or their weekly shop, or it may involve helping them with washing, cooking and other daily tasks.

Psychologically, this break is extremely important – it gives you time to rest, travel, meet up with other members of the family (or friends) and to generally recharge your batteries. As you won’t get exhausted or run-down, it may also put you in a position to offer better long-term care for your loved one in the future.

How the Cared-for Person Benefits from Respite Care

There are psychological benefits for your loved one as well – they don’t feel as guilty having to rely on you for everything. They also benefit from professional care – at Baxendale we operate 24-hour care (three eight-hour shifts in any one day) so if there’s a problem there should always be someone on call for any problems.

If the primary reason for the respite care stay is surgical or medical, then at Baxendale we have access to a variety of specialist services such as physiotherapists and speech and language therapists which should aid your loved one’s recovery.

Our residents also have the benefits of excellent facilities – not just our house and gardens, but plenty of communal activities they can take part in and plenty of areas which offer peace and quiet, such as our sun lounge or our library (which doubles as a visitor area).

There’s also the added benefit of a variety of social activities, such as games, craft sessions, concerts and live music in the home, and social visits outside, which all residents are welcome to take part in, however long they are staying for.

Baxendale – A Short-Term Care Home in Barnet and North London

Our minimum respite care stay is for two weeks, but this can be extended to several months.

Perhaps it’s not surprising that, for many of our residents, what started out as a short-term respite care stay becomes a long-term one, given the excellent care and facilities that we provide.

If you would like to know more about our respite care services, follow this link and fill in the online form; you can also call us on 020 8445 1127