Shared Care Scotland

A collection of good practice examples in short breaks and respite care.

Rethinking Respite for People Affected by Dementia

The ‘Dementia: More Than Just Memory Loss’ report, was published in 2016, and set out some of the key issues affecting people with dementia in Wales, in particular:
• A widespread lack of knowledge and understanding of dementia amongst professionals and the wider public.
• A lack of flexibility to effectively meet the needs of people living with dementia
and their carers.
• A lack of co-operation between services creates unnecessary difficulties and
barriers for people living with dementia and their carers.

The Outdoors - A Natural Place for Young People with Autism, End of Project Report

This End of Project Report describes an innovative Transition to Work Programme for young people with autistic spectrum diagnoses and is the result of a pilot programme developed by Lothian Autistic Society (LAS) and Scottish Outdoor Education Centres (SOEC) and made possible through funding from Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). The pilot had the twin aims of developing employability skills and exploring the therapeutic value of the outdoors. 

Short break support is failing family carers: reviewing progress 10 years on from Mencap’s first Breaking Point report

In 2006 Mencap produced a comprehensive review of short break provision. Now, 10 years on, they are revisiting the support available for family carers to see whether recent policy initiatives and investment have delivered the much-needed change. A total of 264 family carers responded to their survey on short breaks provision and experiences of caring. They also sent Freedom of Information requests to all 152 local authorities in England that provide social care services.

A review of respite / short break provision for adult carers of adults in the Highland Partnership area

As part of the implementation of the Equal Partners in Care (EPiC) Highland Carer’s Strategy 2014-2017 it was agreed to undertake a review of respite for Adult Carers of Adults (aged 16+). Independent consultants were commissioned by NHS Highland through Connecting Carers to undertake this work. There are four groups of people – totalling an estimated 200 people - with whom conversations have taken place during the review:

The cost of short break services: understanding the contracting and commissioning process

The aim of the research was to explore the costs of short break services for disabled children and their families. The study also sought to understand the contracting and commissioning process, including the factors that inform decision making processes and the management of budgets.

The research was commissioned by Action for Children and carried out by the Centre for Child and Family Research, Loughborough University.

National Health and Wellbeing Outcomes - A framework for improving the planning and delivery of integrated health and social care services

"Health and social care services should focus on the needs of the individual to promote their health and wellbeing, and in particular, to enable people to live healthier lives in their community. Key to this is that people’s experience of health and social care services and their impact is positive; that they are able to shape the care and support that they receive; and that people using services, whether health or social care, can expect a quality service regardless of where they live."

Scottish Government Respite Care Data 2014: Shared Care Scotland Summary

The Scottish Government recently released the 2014 data for the provision of respite in Local Authority areas across Scotland. The statistics are presented in "respite weeks provided or purchased by local authorities" and then further broken down into "overnight" and "daytime" respite for three age groups: 0-17, 18-64 and 65+. This paper from Shared Care Scotland provides a short summary of the data and comments on issues arising from analysis of this data. Links to the full Scottish Government data and analysis are also provided.

Short Break (Respite Care) Provision in Dundee – now and in the future

Executive Summary
Dundee Carers Centre commissioned Animate to carry out research into the current and future provision of Short Breaks/Respite for adults in Dundee, on behalf of the Dundee Partnership. The main purpose of the research was to help local service planners improve Short Break provision in line with the overall principles of the Scottish Government’s policy intentions: protecting young carers, enabling self - care and working with adult carers as partners in care, by:
• improving planning of Short Break services