Shared Lives Services

[ZivasMum]

Hi... I am new to TP. I am FT Carer for my OH who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s over 2 years ago. He has deteriorated slowly over that time and I now can’t leave him alone with any degree of confidence that he’ll be safe. I have only recently started to look for ways of carving out a regular period of time for me as my mental state has suffered due to the relentlessness of caring for him.

The Shared Lives scheme has been mentioned to me. Anyone out there with any experience of using their services?

 

[nae sporran]

Welcome to the forums, Zivasmum. Sorry your OH has deteriorated so much, I'm not surprised it has affected your own health. That is sadly something I've struggled with too.
Sorry I don't know anything about the shared lives scheme, but my OH has a sitter / befriender who comes round one afternoon a week and that gives me 3 hours to myself. It was a Social Services care needs review which set that up. She also goes to a lunch club one day a week which buys a few hours to get out with a walking group. Would either of those be of interest to you?

 

[ZivasMum]

Welcome to the forums, Zivasmum. Sorry your OH has deteriorated so much, I'm not surprised it has affected your own health. That is sadly something I've struggled with too.
Sorry I don't know anything about the shared lives scheme, but my OH has a sitter / befriender who comes round one afternoon a week and that gives me 3 hours to myself. It was a Social Services care needs review which set that up. She also goes to a lunch club one day a week which buys a few hours to get out with a walking group. Would either of those be of interest to you?

That’s exactly the sort of support I would appreciate. At the moment I can’t go out anywhere without the OH. So I feel isolated from my ‘girlfriends’ as I can’t meet them for lunch or coffee anymore. You mentioned the care review. I do know about those but question the value when at the end of it all I know we will have to self-fund.

 

[Rosettastone57]

Hi... I am new to TP. I am FT Carer for my OH who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s over 2 years ago. He has deteriorated slowly over that time and I now can’t leave him alone with any degree of confidence that he’ll be safe. I have only recently started to look for ways of carving out a regular period of time for me as my mental state has suffered due to the relentlessness of caring for him.

The Shared Lives scheme has been mentioned to me. Anyone out there with any experience of using their services?

No experience of the scheme, I'm afraid, but if you're self funding, then my own experience is with my mother-in-law, is you have to be really proactive. The care agency my mother-in-law used had a sitting service, was about £23 an hour in the week about 2 years ago. She was in the south east. She also had a befriending service from the Royal Voluntary service at one time, although there was a 4 month waiting list.

 

[ZivasMum]

No experience of the scheme, I'm afraid, but if you're self funding, then my own experience is with my mother-in-law, is you have to be really proactive. The care agency my mother-in-law used had a sitting service, was about £23 an hour in the week about 2 years ago. She was in the south east. She also had a befriending service from the Royal Voluntary service at one time, although there was a 4 month waiting list.

Thanks for the info. Will research whether there are any befriending services local to me.