Short Break Stories

Time for Me

A story by Carers of West Dunbartonshire

We provided grants directly to carers who are looking after someone 21 years and over, living In West Dunbartonshire.

 

What Time for Me did

An application pack application was developed in line with feedback from our previous evaluations. This contained an application form, a leaflet about the project, an agreement with guidelines/criteria form and an expenses record. Promotional material for the project was produced and distributed among statutory and other third sector agencies.

The existing good partnerships that we have with a variety of agencies and individuals was used to raise awareness and promote the project. These included:
Health staff, GPs, District Nurses, Social Work teams, voluntary organisation partners.

The promotional material included: leaflets, fliers, Website information, Information in our own newsletter and other organisations’ newsletters.
We also informed carers on an individual basis, for example those that were being offered a high level of support from our Carer Support team and who were felt to have a particularly high needs e.g. those that are providing 50+ hours of care and are managing their own health needs. The ground work which had been carried out from previous funding had formed a sound basis for us to build on and to promote the development of the project.

Grant applications were considered on a fortnightly basis by a small grants panel. The grants panel comprised of the “Time for Me” Project worker, Carers’ Services Manager and a carer volunteer. Each application was considered individually and against the criteria which had been set. Carers were given a choice as to how they wanted the grant to be administered, these were, as a small personalised budget, as a break arranged by the Carers’ Centre or as a combination of both.

Successful applicants who chose the personalised budget option were awarded their grant in the form of a cheque. Carers were asked to keep a record of all expenses as well as receipts.

Mrs A cares for her husband who has heart disease and alcohol issues. Mrs A also manages her own health issues, diabetes and heart disease. Latterly things have become very much more stressful as his condition has progressed. The couple were feeling increasingly isolated and "worn out" by the situation. They were granted a short break which took them on various individual day trips over the summer months. Mrs A felt that it had a positive impact on their health.

They felt less stressed and less isolated. Mrs A said " one big holiday with S is not possible any more. These day trips gave us both something to look forward to. We had a great summer"

Mr P cares for his adult daughter who has a learning disability/complex needs. Mr P is 73 years old and has been caring for his daughter since his wife died six years ago. Mr P has arthritis which causes him a lot of pain.

Mr P was awarded a grant which allowed him to purchase a swim pass for a local spa hotel. There he was able to use the pool, sauna, jacuzzi and steam room. Having the pass gave him flexibility as he could use it whilst his daughter was at day care or with her paid carers. Mr P said that it really helped his pain.
Mrs M cares for her husband who has Alzheimer's disease, he requires maximum support and care with all aspects of daily living. Mrs M has not had a holiday in 2 years and had come to a point where without a break she did not feel able to carry on. Mrs M was awarded a grant which helped to go on a bus tour whilst her husband was in respite.

Mrs M felt she had " total relaxation" whilst away; being able to do things that she wanted e.g take long walks. Mrs M also said it allowed her time to think about and plan for the future away from the every day challenges.
Mrs T cares for her husband who has Parkinson's Disease. Mrs T was beginning to suffer from neck and shoulder pain through having to move and position her husband. We provide massage/therapy sessions every week at the carers centre but the timing of this was not suitable for Mrs T to be able to leave her husband. She took part in the Moving and Assisting at Home Training which we offer and a Time for Me grant was used to purchase massage vouchers.

Mrs T was able to use the vouchers with the therapist at a time that was more convenient to her. Mrs said the training and the therapy sessions together really helped. She attended the therapist weekly until the vouchers were finished.

What Carers of West Dunbartonshire has learned

For many carers getting away "with" the person they care for rather than getting away "from" them is just as important. It's the getting away from the daily routine that's the key for many carers. We all need to learn from that and be flexible about what a "break" can mean for people. During our evaluation process one carer used the term " a bit of normality". A break is often the thing that carers feel will be most difficult to get but yet the most useful to them. They are often put off by bureaucracy. So it's important to keep processes straightforward.

Carers may initially apply for a break but by engaging with services, particularly new carers, it is likely that other support needs are identified.
For the first time we experienced a situation where we felt that the funds would have been mismanaged and not used for their intended purpose. In response to this we established another level of monitoring which can be used when required, should this happen again. Some of the applications proved challenging because of very tight time scales. We have changed our application process and guidelines to address this.
Top tips Carers of West Dunbartonshire's top tips for an organisation that wants to run a similar project
Tip 1:
Keep it simple! Gathering information to assess an application is necessary but it does not need to be onerous or overly bureaucratic.

Developing a straightforward process will attract more carers.
Tip 2:
Make sure that your monitoring systems are robust. Have systems in place to ensure that carers understand that they are committing to spending funds for their intended purpose.
Tip 3:
Use a person centred approach to evaluating. Using conversation to gather the information and evaluate is much more meaningful than asking carers to complete a form. It allows them the opportunity to talk at length about what the break has meant to them, how they coped and to say "thank you"....carers have told us that it is very important to them that they are able to do that.

It can be time consuming but worth it...use trained volunteers if staff capacity won't allow for it.

"The relaxation session at the end of the presentations was really good and gave me some good techniques to reduce stress at home."

Service User

Short Break Stories is a site by Shared Care Scotland, a company limited by guarantee registered in Scotland SC161033.

Designed and developed by Do Good. This site uses a few cookies more on this.   Admin login