Skip to main content
Loading
Anchor Homes
  • Care homes Open Child Nav
    • Care homes
    • Open Supporting your needs
      • Supporting your needs
      • Residential care
      • Dementia care
      • Respite care and short breaks
      • Convalescence care
      • Care home fees and funding assistance
      • Guide to choosing a care home
      • Support for care professionals
      • Read more guides and advice
    • Open Living in an Anchor care home
      • Living in an Anchor care home
      • What could my new home be like?
      • Catering and mealtimes
      • Approach to wellness and activity
      • Caring professional staff
      • Welcoming new residents
    • Find a care home

      Use our Property Finder to browse our care homes by location.

      Care homes by region
      • East of England
      • London
      • Midlands
      • North East
      • North West
      • South East
      • South West
      • Yorkshire and the Humber
      • View all care home locations
  • Property for sale Open Child Nav
    • Property for sale
    • Open Your purchasing options
      • Your purchasing options
      • Visit the Anchor New Homes website
      • Older Persons Shared Ownership
      • Shared ownership with Anchor
      • Independent living developments
      • Retirement villages
      • Read more guides and advice
    • Open Peace of mind
      • Peace of mind
      • A beautiful home for your future
      • Hassle-free property ownership​
      • Wellbeing services
    • Find a property for sale

      Use our Property Finder to search for your next home by location.

      Our latest developments
      • The Signals Hook, Hampshire
      • The Standard Wigan, Greater Manchester
      • The Dials Hinckley, Leicestershire
      • The Chimes Bingley, West Yorkshire
      • Pemberley Place Bath, Somerset
      • The Landings Kings Hill, Kent
      • View all properties for sale
  • Property to rent Open Child Nav
    • Property to rent
    • Open Applying to live with Anchor
      • Applying to live with Anchor
      • How to apply
      • Who can apply?
      • Allocations and waiting lists
      • Transfers and mutual exchange
      • Read more guides and advice
    • Open What is included?
      • What is included?
      • A well maintained home for your future
      • 24-hour peace of mind
      • A pet friendly home
      • Health and wellbeing services
      • An inclusive and welcoming community
      • Opportunities to shape our services
    • Find a property to rent

      Use our Property Finder to search for your next home by location.

      Popular locations
      • Ipswich
      • Leeds
      • London
      • Manchester
      • West Midlands
      • View all properties for rent
  • Housing with extra care Open Child Nav
    • extra care
    • Open Living safely and independently
      • Living safely and independently
      • What is housing with extra care?
      • 24 hour emergency call service
      • A pet friendly home
      • Staying active and connected
      • How to apply
      • Support for health and social care professionals
      • Read more guides and advice
    • Find housing with extra care

      Use our Property Finder to search for your next home by location.

      Popular locations
      • London
      • North Yorkshire
      • County Durham
      • West Midlands
      • Lancashire
      • West Yorkshire
  • Existing residents Open Child Nav
    • Existing residents
    • Open Manage your home
      • Manage your home
      • Report a repair
      • Manage your payments
      • Transfers and mutual exchange
      • Ending your tenancy
      • Right to Manage
      • Selling your Anchor home
    • Open Resident services
      • Resident services
      • Anchor on Call
      • Anchor Resident Support Fund
      • Customer relations, complaints and feedback
      • Our performance
      • Support with anti-social behaviour​
      • Update your communication preferences
      • Location phonebook
    • Open Free wellbeing support
      • Free wellbeing support
      • Financial advice service
      • Fitness, movement and activity
      • Socialising and meeting new people
      • Digital skills
      • Online learning and courses
    • Open Be involved
      • Be involved
      • Resident groups and panels
      • Resident updates
      • Resident publications
      • Resident satisfaction surveys
      • Support Anchor's sustainability journey
      • Nominate someone for a Loving Later Life Award
      • Apply for a community grant
  • About us Open Child Nav
    • About us
    • Open About Anchor
      • About Anchor
      • Anchor Board
      • Anchor Executive Committee
      • Annual report
      • Governance
      • Our regulators
      • Publications
    • Open Our values and ambitions
      • Our values and ambitions
      • Diversity and inclusion
      • Building on relationships
      • Resident involvement
      • Resident wellbeing
      • Safeguarding
      • Environment and sustainability
      • Pet friendly homes
      • Our memberships
      • Awards
      • New developments
    • Open Media centre
      • Media centre
      • News
      • Influencing and campaigning
      • Research
      • Blogs
      • Events
      • Social media
      • Media contacts
    • Open Supporting our business plan
      • Supporting our business plan
      • Information for investors
      • Land acquisition
      • Become a supplier
  • Contact Open Child Nav
    Duplication inside header--secondary
  • Living with us
  • Careers
  • Living with us
  • Careers

Property Finder

View properties via county

Login to Anchor

Looking for a new home with Anchor? Register for a website account to save your favourite properties.

Enter your email address or username.
Enter the password that accompanies your email address.
Register now
Forgotten your password? Click here to reset

Search our website

Looking for property contact details? Use our property phonebook

  • Home
  • Guides & support
  • Preparing for full time care with a respite break

Preparing for full time care with a respite break

When choosing a care home for long term residential care, it’s often the case that a person who has visited a care home for a respite stay will return to the same home, find the move easier and settle in more quickly.

Below we take a look at the range of ways respite breaks and short stays in a care home environment can help prepare new residents and their carers for the transition to full time residential care.

Two people sat smilingFamiliar surroundings

For many, the move from home care to permanent residential care can be an uncertain and stressful time: a care home is a new and likely much bigger environment than most people are used to. Respite care provides people with a valuable chance to learn the layout of the home, gain a sense of its environment and begin to recognise friendly faces. Gaining experience of respite care and being familiar with mealtimes and recreational activities can be positive steps towards making a care environment feel like home.

Building a routine

We are creatures of habit and when we live in the same house for a long time we create daily routines for ourselves; for many people, these are very important to retain.

At Anchor we find that a respite stay in one of our care homes allows visitors to see not only the commitment of our carers to sustaining the daily lives that they already enjoy, but also how our teams and care home’s facilities can enrich their lifestyle further, allowing visitors to partake in pastimes or social events that may have previously been difficult or impossible for them to access.

Incorporating everything from singing, to games and arts and crafts, every Anchor care home provides a rich and varied activities programmes. Activities run alongside themed events and special occasions, such as bringing therapy animals into a home, or hosting cocktail evenings and live music to take residents and visitors down memory lane.

This approach also extends to mealtimes and dining. All the colleagues in our care homes are committed to making mealtimes a sociable and enjoyable part of each day: living independently, people can miss eating with others, and a respite stay is a perfect way of demonstrating the sense of community that comes with residential care.

People enjoying teaWe recognise that everybody’s culinary palates are unique and our care home catering teams celebrate these differences by ensuring every mealtime caters to every taste, there are always an array of delicious snacks and drinks available throughout the day, and residents are in control of their food choices. In our care homes we get to know residents’ favourite dishes and prepare freshly cooked, appetising and nutritionally balanced meals, with plenty of choice, every day.

Creating relationships

Every Anchor care home is a vibrant and dynamic community, and making each new resident feel fully at home, quickly, is our priority.

A respite stay can allow new residents to move to the home with some pre-existing friendships, which greatly helps their transition into residential care.

It’s equally reassuring for residents to move to a care home and already know some of the colleagues on hand, from the carers and catering team, to visiting medical professionals and beauty technicians. Knowing the people you will be spending your time with and who will be supporting and caring for you, takes away much of the doubt and uncertainty from the move.

Making it easier for carers

Looking after a person for a long time can make their transition into residential care a difficult and emotional time for a carer. Placing your loved one in the care of other people after dedicating yourself to supporting them round the clock can be a very hard decision. 

Respite care can provide an opportunity for carers and their loved one to spend short periods of time away from each other, secure in the knowledge that the distance and separation are only temporary. This can afford a carer some valuable time to themselves, to manage their own long-term well-being, adjust to a new routine and learn to lean on other people for support.

We've created a free guide to respite care for carers to help answer some common questions.

When residential care becomes an important matter to consider, a previous respite stay will mean that carers and residents alike have a good sense of a care home’s daily life and have formed relationships with the colleagues; both parties will know what to expect and this can remove a lot of the stress and uncertainty that comes with the decision.

Guides on making decisions and moving to a care home

Are next of kin responsible for care home fees?

Are next of kin responsible for care home fees?

Are next of kin responsible for care home fees? Learn about family responsibility, understanding the legal responsibilities of being a guarantor, and managing care home fees here.

Understanding CQC ratings

Understanding CQC ratings

Learn what the Care Quality Commission is, how they assess the performance of care homes, what their ratings mean, and how you can find their inspection reports online in our free online guide.

A warm welcome

A warm welcome

We understand you’ll have many questions about finding a care home for you or a loved one and we’re here to support you every step of the way.

Checking care home quality standards

Checking care home quality standards

The independent regulator of health and social care in England is called the Care Quality Commission. Find out what they do and how their reports can help you choose a care home.

Care home selection checklist

Care home selection checklist

The care home selection process can seem a confusing and daunting task so Anchor have created a checklist to help you choose between the care homes you visit.

Preparing for full time care with a respite break

Preparing for full time care with a respite break

Respite care can be a good way for carers and loved ones to prepare for the transition into full time residential care. Find more information about short term care breaks here.

Is a care home the right move?

Is a care home the right move?

Before deciding on a move to a care home, it’s important to know the difference between the main types of accommodation available for older people. Find out more about your housing options.

Guide to choosing a care home

Guide to choosing a care home

Our guide to choosing a care home is designed to help you and your loved ones consider your choices carefully and make the right decision, at the right time, for you.

What to expect from a respite care break

What to expect from a respite care break

Our guide on what to expect from respite care helps show what day to day life is like for both residents and carers during a respite break.

Respite care: A guide for carers

Respite care: A guide for carers

Respite for carers holds benefits for both carers and loved ones. Find out more about short care breaks in our respite care guide for carers.

How to choose the right care home

How to choose the right care home

When choosing a care home you need to have a good think about what really matters to you. Learn how to choose the right one for your needs, ensuring comfort, care, and peace of mind.

This website uses cookies which track activity so that you get the best possible experience. By continuing to use this website we will assume you are happy and cookies will be set. You can change your cookie settings at any time.

 
Award 2025 - Top 20 care home group carehome.co.uk
We are a living wage employer
Inclusive employers standard gold accreditation 2023
RSPC pawprints housing award 2024 platinum
House proud pledge plus
Menopause friendly
Diversity network accreditation
For people not profit - NCF
  • Care homes
  • Property for sale
  • Property to rent
  • Housing with extra care
  • Contact us
  • Guides & support
  • News & updates
  • Media
  • Careers
  • Investors
  • Become a supplier
  • Land acquisition

Newsletter

Keep updated on Anchor news, events and exclusive offers

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Youtube
  • LinkedIn
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Accessibility
  • Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking Statement
  • myHR staff portal

© 2025 Anchor Hanover Group

Share this page...

Share via social media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Whats App
  • Facebook messenger
  • Email