- What is respite care?
- Who is the respite care for?
- What is respite care?
- Will there be changes in the rules of respite care?
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Relaxation care in Poland is a relatively new term, which is still an unrealized project. What is respite care and who can benefit from it?
Contents:
- What is respite care?
- Who is the respite care for?
- What is respite care?
- Will there be changes in the rules of respite care?
Retreat careis a term that first appeared in Poland as one of the items in the program "For Life", introduced by the government of Beata Szydło at the turn of 2016 and 2022. In Western Europe, however, this form of support is widely known and used. What is respite care and who can benefit from it?
What is respite care?
Relaxation care is a form of support for carers of people with disabilities. It consists in providing care to a person with a confirmed form of disability in a situation where their guardian, due to some random event, the need to rest or deal with some everyday matters, cannot provide this care alone.
Who is the respite care for?
Over a million people in our country are people requiring round-the-clock care. These are disabled children, as well as adults, mentally or mentally disabled and bedridden, in short - all dependent people. Responsibility for caring for such persons rests entirely with the families.
For the sake of the patient's welfare, caregivers devote their time, often quitting their jobs, and sometimes endangering their own he alth. Until recently, caregivers of patients, mainly family members, were deprived of any help from the state.
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What is respite care?
The respite care is supposed to change this state, support the families of dependent people. In practice, this is to mean that the centers designated by the poviat may temporarily take care of the patient in the form of care and specialist services. At that time, the guardian couldrun errands or simply relax.
The provisions of the government resolution stipulate that if the family's income per person does not exceed PLN 1,200 per month, such a family may benefit from this form of support. Unfortunately, the dimension of this care is quite limited. That's just 120 hours a year. Converting it into days - because a large number of patients require 24-hour care, it is easy to come to the conclusion that caregivers of patients can count on the help of the local government for only a few days a year.
Care for the bedridden - proper nutrition
Care for the bedridden - mental support for the sick
Care for the bedridden - daily toilet
Will there be changes in the rules of respite care?
The main problem is the fact that the law, written on paper, has hardly been implemented. Despite the fact that in governmental resolutions, respite care should be provided from July 2107, its scope is still very limited, and families of disabled people still have to rely mainly on themselves.
The financial resources at the municipalities' disposal are so limited that they are not able to implement the regulations. Some cities have managed to set up structures for this form of support, but these are really exceptions.
That is why the Ministry of Family, Labor and Social Policy wants to introduce changes in the functioning of respite care in 2022. The funds for them are to come from the Solidarity Fund for Support for Disabled People.
The plans assume that the care would be provided by communes, not poviats, and this assistance would be implemented within the framework of care services. The income criterion will also change, which will increase from PLN 1,200 to PLN 1,285, and the guardian of a disabled person will be able to take advantage of 24-hour care for 14 days a year.
The offer of assistance would also increase - apart from care services, it would also offer the possibility of leaving the sick person in a stationary facility (e.g. in the case when the caregiver is sick or hospitalized).