Your Respite Care Options After Hospitalisation (Ascot, Camberley and Wokingham)
Looking for respite care options after hospitalisation in Ascot, Camberley and Wokingham? Come on in and read our comprehensive guide!
Respite Care Options After Hospitalisation: The Different Categories of Care and Providers
To help you understand your respite care options across Ascot, Camberley and Wokingham, we thought it would be helpful to create a guide. Something you can refer back to as you need it.
We will cover the types of respite care available, plus how they work. It’s important to remember that we (Home Instead) specialise in adult respite care, so this guide will help you from that angle specifically. And while child respite care may differ, there may be some information (such as contacts) that can help you further.
Emergency Respite Care After Hospitalisation
If your loved one has recently been hospitalised and requires care in place on discharge, or they have been discharged but you find you need extra help, you need ’emergency respite care’.
Social care or private home care companies can provide emergency respite care (or urgent respite care, as we sometimes call it).
Planned Respite Care After Hospitalisation
If your loved one has a planned hospital visit that requires care afterwards (anything from day surgery to invasive surgery), then we call this ‘planned respite care’.
Social care or private home care companies can provide planned respite care.
Social Care Respite Services (Public services)
Social care is chronically underfunded in the UK, with rising demand from an ageing population. Unfortunately, this does impact access to care and the length of waiting lists. Having said that it is an option available to you. Below, you will find information on the Ascot, Camberley, and Wokingham boroughs.
*Disclaimer: Some of the public care information may change over time. Please visit the local authority website for more details. Blog published February 2025.
Ascot respite care after hospitalisation
Social care respite provision for adults leaving hospital in Ascot is covered by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead’s adult social care department. A care referral will come from the NHS hospital social worker assigned to your loved one’s case. In most instances, their “home first” social care approach can help you by signposting (directing you) to community services for further support, offering advice or assisting with specialist carers, therapists, or a move to a residential or nursing home.
After your loved one returns from the hospital and in-home nursing care or a care home facility is required, further decisions will be made by an assigned borough social worker.
Help in the home could be provided over a “re-enablement period” of up to six weeks (but usually no more than 1-2 weeks) by a selection of on-call carers. Once the goal of that work is complete and your loved one passes the assessment, they will be released from social care and/or directed to local community support and GPs for additional recovery advice and referrals. Hospitals may also be involved in checkups and further treatment plans throughout this time.
Funding for home care, care homes or supported housing may be possible, depending on the level of need and your loved one’s means-tested eligibility. You can find out more about that here.
If Mum or Dad needs social care later on, you can learn more about it here. This page also includes links to information on help (and funding) for you, the primary carer.
Camberley respite care after hospitalisation
Social care respite provision for adults leaving the hospital in Camberley is covered by Surrey County Council. Once your loved one is home, their borough social worker will assess their needs under the discharge to assess policy (D2A). You can read more about this on the Gov.uk website. There is no cost of care until the assessment is complete. Funding may be available but will be means-tested and you cancontact the council here for details.
Care cover can last up to 6 weeks, and is undertaken by a selection of on-call carers, working similarly to Ascot’s policy above.
Their information page is here if you need more adult social care or carer advice.
Wokingham respite care after hospitalisation
Social care respite provision for adults leaving the hospital in Wokingham is covered byWokingham Borough Council. Whilst in the hospital, your loved one’s ‘hospital liaison team’ will provide full details on their care plan. They will also assess your loved one for any care-at-home needs, providing details of who to contact, how and when support will be provided by a selection of on-call carers, and how it will be monitored, reviewed (usually from week two) and withdrawn.
You can request additional help from theAge UK Home from hospital service for the day of Mum or Dad’s return from hospital. They can help with food shopping, light household cleaning, ordering and collecting medication and turning on heating.
The council provides information on paying for care or getting assistance with care here. As with all councils, funding will be means-tested.
You can find their information here if you require adult social care later on or help as a carer.
Respite Home Care (Private Services)
Private respite care is an excellent option if you are looking for a broader and more flexible provision. In most cases, it is privately funded by the client or their family. However, you may still be eligible for limited funding from your local authority for certain things. There are, of course, additional government and charity bursaries and grants for equipment that you may also be entitled to.
In the next section, we’ll talk you through how we do things at Home Instead of Ascot, Camberley and Wokingham. While we cannot speak for other private providers, we can at least tell you what to expect from us!
Respite Home Care from Home Instead Ascot, Camberley and Wokingham
Every Home Instead respite client gets one care team consisting of a designated care manager and care professional(s). Your care manager is your lead contact who can help you with the provision of care. Your care professional(s) is the carer in your home, delivering services day in and day out. You will have contact with both. This approach means one clear means of contact to get your questions answered instead of several departments, social workers and care professionals. It also means one set of faces for Mum or Dad to get to know.
When you contact Home Instead for help with respite care at home, we can connect with hospital social workers or liaison teams to have respite in place for your loved one’s return (planned or emergency). We can also liaise with their GP to signal medication monitoring efforts and any change in condition. And we always keep you, the primary caregiver, in the loop as a priority.
In the case of emergency respite, our care plan will be reviewed upon meeting your loved one and throughout subsequent visits. Reviews and recommendations will be made to you and your loved one as needs change.
If you receive planned respite cover, the review process may feel ‘less urgent’. Don’t worry, it isn’t; it’s just because we’ve had time to prepare a more detailed service beforehand. However, rest assured we do pay close attention to our clients. We will flag if they need their service adapted or their condition changes.
And we do not cut off access to care at six weeks. We prefer a tapered approach. It’s better for your loved one’s recovery and their confidence. When they are well enough and happy enough to reduce respite care, we work with you to plan for what comes next.We can even help you have the care conversation.
If you wish to keep some level of companionship care or housekeeping, we can help. If you wish to get back to where you were before, we’ll leave you with our details if you need us again.
Here are a few examples of Home Instead respite care in action:
- Brian’s story: “Getting back on his feet and into the garden”
- Patsy’s story: “Getting back to being me after a broken elbow”
Because we are a private company, we have built our services to cover you for many situations. We can offer a mix of:
- Home help, housekeeping and meal prep
- Personal care
- Nail care
- Health care at home and medication monitoring
- 24/7 Live-in Care
- Overnight and Waking Night care
- Respite care
- Specialist condition-led care
- Palliative care
- Mental, physical and emotional well-being support
- Support for families
And if you need it, here are the areas we cover:
Ascot Home Instead Hub:
Ascot, Bisley, Chobham, Sunningdale, Sunninghill, West End and Windlesham
Camberley Home Instead Hub:
Bagshot, Blackwater, Camberley, Crowthorne, Lightwater and Yateley
Wokingham Home Instead Hub:
Binfield, Bracknell, Sandhurst, Warfield, Winkfield and Wokingham
Need more information? Call us today on 01276 903106
Respite Care Options After Hospitalisation:
What To Do Next
So, what do you do next if you need to explore respite care options after hospitalisation?
If you have a planned respite situation, you may have more time. We recommend contacting local authorities and private home care teams to gather your information. Check who can provide what and for how long, against your hospital team’s expectations for post-hospital care. Planning early will alleviate some of the stress that comes with coordinating and caring for someone who is poorly. It can also help you explore a plan B if you need one.
If you find yourself in an emergency, firstly, we are sorry to hear this; what you need to do now is have a good chat with the doctor, social worker and/or hospital liaison team. Ask them what they think the short-term care needs are. You can also ask what the realistic expectation for social care provision is. At the same time, you can pop private companies a quick email or make a call. While they will need specific information like possible release dates and where to provide help, which will come later on, they can at least start the conversation. Our team is very good at outlining what we provide, given a generalised idea of health concerns.
If you need to call us about respite care, press the button below.