The short answer
- They answer two different questionsRespite care is a short break for the person doing the caring. End-of-life care is the ongoing support given to someone with a serious illness. Arranging one does not replace or interrupt the other.
- End-of-life care covers more than the final weeksNHS England describes it as care for someone likely to be in the last 12 months of their life, not only the last few days.
- A break can be a few hours or a fortnightA carer at home, a hospice sitting service, a short stay in a care home, or family stepping in on a rota, all count as respite.
- Free routes sit alongside paying for it yourselfA carer's assessment, NHS fast-track funding and hospice services can all pay for a break. Booking a carer directly costs from £18 an hour on PrimeCarers, with our fee included.
This page covers the difference between the two and how to arrange a break. For the fuller picture of what respite care involves and when to consider it, see the linked guides in each section.
The short answer
Respite care and end-of-life care answer two different questions
One is about the person doing the caring. The other is about the person receiving it. Knowing which is which stops a conversation with a GP or a hospice nurse from being confusing.
| What it is for | Who it is for | How long it runs | Who arranges it | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Respite care | A short, planned break from caring, so the carer can rest, work or deal with their own life | The family carer, though it is booked around the person being cared for | From a few hours to a couple of weeks, then caring continues as before | The family, the council after a carer’s assessment, or a hospice |
| End-of-life care | Ongoing support for someone whose illness cannot be cured, focused on comfort and quality of life | The person who is unwell | NHS England describes it as care for the last 12 months of life, though nobody can say in advance how long it will run | GPs, district nurses, hospital and hospice teams, alongside the family |
Respite care
- What it is for
- A short, planned break from caring, so the carer can rest, work or deal with their own life
- Who it is for
- The family carer, though it is booked around the person being cared for
- How long it runs
- From a few hours to a couple of weeks, then caring continues as before
- Who arranges it
- The family, the council after a carer’s assessment, or a hospice
End-of-life care
- What it is for
- Ongoing support for someone whose illness cannot be cured, focused on comfort and quality of life
- Who it is for
- The person who is unwell
- How long it runs
- NHS England describes it as care for the last 12 months of life, though nobody can say in advance how long it will run
- Who arranges it
- GPs, district nurses, hospital and hospice teams, alongside the family
NHS England, Palliative and end of life care. A family can ask for respite at any stage of caring, not only once end-of-life care has started.
The confusion is understandable, because the two often come up in the same conversation. A hospice or a district nurse might mention respite while talking about a parent's care, and it can sound as though respite only exists for families who are already deep into end-of-life care. It does not. You can ask for a break the first month you take on caring for someone with a long-term condition, long before end-of-life care is being discussed at all.
What respite care covers
The ways to get a break, from an afternoon to a fortnight
Respite is not one service. It is any arrangement that lets someone else take over so you can step away, and the right one depends on how much time you need and how much your relative's care involves.
A carer at home
A few hours to a few weeks
A short stay away from home
A weekend to several weeks
A sitting or volunteer service
A few hours at a time
Family and friends, planned rather than left to chance
Any length
These can be combined rather than relying on one alone. A weekly sitting service for a few hours, plus a private carer booked for the odd weekend away, covers a broad range of what caring for somebody long term requires. Some hospices also offer family therapy: counselling for the wider family, aimed at the emotional load of caring rather than the practical cover, and worth asking about alongside any of the above.
What end-of-life care covers
Palliative care, hospice care and end-of-life care, and how they fit together
These three terms get used almost interchangeably, and the differences matter less than people fear. Here is what each one means, in plain terms.
The words used alongside a serious illness
- Palliative care
- Care that focuses on comfort, symptom control and quality of life for somebody with a serious illness, alongside any treatment aimed at the illness itself. It can start at diagnosis and run for years.
- End-of-life care
- The support given when someone is thought to be approaching the end of their life. NHS England describes this as the last 12 months, though it is often impossible to say in advance, and support usually increases as needs change.
- Hospice care
- A form of specialist palliative care, given in a hospice building, in hospital, or increasingly at home. UK hospices do not work to a fixed prognosis such as six months; a GP or hospital doctor refers somebody based on the support they need, and hospice care is free.
- Terminal illness
- An illness that cannot be cured, though the timescale is often uncertain. A terminal diagnosis is what opens the door to the fastest routes to funding, such as NHS Fast Track.
- NHS Continuing Healthcare Fast Track
- A funding route for somebody whose health is declining quickly, aimed at putting a full package of free care in place within days rather than weeks. It is not means-tested.
Hospice care is often associated with cancer, but UK hospices also support people with dementia, heart failure, motor neurone disease, frailty and other conditions that cannot be cured, at any stage of the illness rather than only near the very end. Care increasingly happens in someone's own home, through a hospice-at-home team, rather than only in a hospice building.
Marie Curie and your local hospice are worth asking about early, not only once things have become difficult. Both provide nursing and support in the home as well as inpatient care, funded by the NHS and by donations, and using either does not mean stepping back from any treatment that is still working. For what a private carer can and cannot do alongside a district nursing team, the role of private carers in palliative care covers it in full, and end-of-life care is the fuller guide to what is available.
How they work together
A break does not pause the care your relative is already getting
This is the practical question behind 'is respite care end-of-life care': if you take a break, does everything stop? No. The GP, the district nursing team and the hospice team, if one is involved, carry on exactly as before. What changes is who is physically there for the day-to-day visits.
Every day, whether you are there or not
Mon
Usual routine
Tue
Usual routine
Wed
Usual routine
Thu
Carer covers
Fri
Carer covers
Sat
Carer covers
Sun
Usual routine
The support along the top does not stop for the days you are away. A carer, a hospice stay or family covering for you changes who is there for the visits marked in the row below, not what the GP, the nurses or the hospice team are doing.
For example, if your mother is under a community palliative care team and you book a carer to cover a week away, the palliative team's visits carry on exactly as scheduled. The carer picks up the personal care, meals and company in between those visits, and reports anything that changes to you and, if it matters clinically, to the nursing team directly.
Signs you need a break
Recognising when it is time to arrange one
Family carers are often the last to notice how much they are carrying, because the days that matter come one at a time rather than all at once. Tick anything that has been true in the last month, and treat two or more as a reason to arrange something rather than wait for a worse week.
Has any of this been true recently?
0 of 6 ticked
Your own health
Your relationships and work
The caring itself
How to arrange it
Getting a break arranged, and what it is likely to cost
There is no single route. The following can be combined, depending on how quickly you need cover and whether the council or the NHS is already involved.
- 1
Ask for a carer’s assessment
Free, any timeContact the council’s adult social care team and ask for a carer’s assessment under the Care Act 2014. You are entitled to one whether or not your relative wants help from the council, and it can lead to a personal budget that pays towards respite. [Local authority funding](/funding-care/local-authority-funding) explains how the assessment and the money work. - 2
Ask the hospital, hospice or district nursing team what is local
If a team is already involvedAsk directly whether the local hospice runs a sitting service or short stays, and whether Marie Curie or a similar nursing service covers your area. Availability varies a great deal by postcode, so ask rather than assume it is not there. - 3
Ask about NHS Continuing Healthcare Fast Track if health is declining quickly
Free, not means-testedIf a doctor or nurse thinks your relative’s health may be entering a rapid decline, ask them about Fast Track funding. A single form can put a full care package in place within days, and that package can include the cover that lets you take a break. [NHS Continuing Healthcare](/funding-care/nhs-continuing-healthcare) covers the fuller eligibility. - 4
Book a carer directly for the hours you need
From £18 an hourYou do not need to wait for an assessment to book a break yourself. Search hourly, overnight or live-in carers by postcode, agree the dates directly with them, and pay only for what you book. A live-in carer covering a week away starts from about £1,050 on PrimeCarers, with our fee included; an agency typically charges from £1,400 for the same week. [Cost of care](/cost-of-care) sets out current rates across every type of visit, and [writing a care plan with a private carer](/private-carers/private-carers-care-plan) helps you hand over clearly. - 5
Write down what the person covering needs to know
Before you goMedication times, the GP and district nurse’s numbers, what a bad day looks like, and who to call if you cannot be reached. This matters more than which route paid for the cover.
Questions
Questions families ask about respite and end-of-life care
No. Respite care is available to any unpaid carer, at any stage of caring for somebody with an illness, a disability or dementia. You do not need a diagnosis, a prognosis or anyone else’s permission to ask for a break. What is respite care? covers the funding routes in full.
Anywhere from a couple of hours to several weeks. There is no single UK-wide limit; a council-funded stay in a care home is capped by that council’s own policy, often somewhere between six and eight weeks, so ask your council what its policy is. A privately booked carer or a family rota can run for as long as you need. Cost of care has more on current rates.
Yes. Hospice care in the UK is free to the person using it and their family, funded through a mix of NHS money and charitable donations. A GP or hospital doctor refers somebody for a hospice stay or a hospice-at-home service based on their needs.
Fast Track is a funding route for somebody whose health is declining quickly. It is not means-tested and aims to put a full package of free care in place within days. That package is built around your relative’s needs, but it can include enough cover that you get a genuine break from the day-to-day care. NHS Continuing Healthcare explains who qualifies.
Yes. A carer’s assessment is your right as the carer, separate from any assessment of your relative’s own needs, under the Care Act 2014. Your relative does not have to agree to council involvement, or even to be assessed themselves, for you to ask for one. Local authority funding covers how it works.
Palliative care is the broader term: comfort-focused care for a serious illness that can run for years alongside other treatment. End-of-life care is what NHS England calls the support given in roughly the last 12 months of life, and it is a form of palliative care rather than something separate from it. End-of-life care covers what that support involves.
On PrimeCarers, hourly visits run from £18 to £25 an hour, an overnight carer from about £130 a night, and a live-in carer covering a week away from about £1,050, all with our fee included. An agency typically charges £28 to £35 an hour, or from £1,400 a week for live-in cover. See current rates.
Yes. The nursing team keeps anything clinical, such as medication changes, injections or wound care. A private carer handles personal care, meals, company and the practical running of the house, and reports anything that changes to the family and the nursing team. The role of private carers in palliative care sets out the division in more detail.