The information below gives you an overview of the respite services available to those who are caring for a family member. The website of the Bavarian State Ministry of Labor, Social and Family Affairs and Integration explains the benefits provided by the nursing care funds.
Short-term care refers temporary nursing and care provided in a residential institution for a period of up to four weeks per calendar year. It is a benefit provided under nursing care insurance or the social welfare body. It gives carers temporary respite or prepares the person requiring care for their return home after hospitalization. Information on temporary care availability in Munich can be found online on websites like Münchner Pflegebörse.
Unlike short-term care, substitute care is provided at home (i.e. non-residential) if a carer is unavailable due to illness, vacation or some other reason. Substitute and short-term care can be combined. You can check Münchner Pflegebörse to find service providers in your area.
Day or night care is semi-residential care where the person requiring care only receives residential care for part of a 24-hour period (during the day or the night), with the remaining care provided at home. There is no limit to the benefit period of this semi-residential care. Nursing care funds maintain directories of regional care institutions offering day or night care.
Low-threshold care services refer to projects funded by social and private nursing insurance funds as well as by the federal government, the federal states and local authorities. These services build a bridge between care at home and professional day care. Volunteers assist people with high care and supervision needs either in groups or at home. They provide respite for the family carers and offer them advice. To ensure a certain level of quality, the voluntary helpers must be guided and supported by professionals. Find out more about low-threshold care services in Munich at these advice centers.
Meals on wheels is a service providing regular cooked meals to the recipient’s door or to their table. The service is provided by social welfare bodies, welfare associations, relief organizations and private operators and is primarily aimed at the elderly or those in need who are no longer able or willing to prepare their own meals. You can check Münchner Pflegebörse to find service providers in your area.
A personal emergency response system is a telephone-based service that makes it easier for people requiring care who live alone to call for emergency assistance. It allows people to stay in their own homes for longer while giving them the security of speedy assistance when required. The alarm is usually triggered by a wearable emergency call transmitter, but the device can also be a sensor which reacts to a fall. For more information, see the website of Initiative Hausnotruf.
Housing advice agencies can inform you how you can adapt your house or apartment to the needs of a family member with mobility restrictions. Adapting accommodation in this way gives the person requiring care the independence they desire in their own home. To find out where you can get this advice, see the website of Verein Stadtteilarbeit.