Please refer to the pages for each individual Centre or check the Compare Centres information to ensure your needs are met before booking.
What age group does Vitalise serve?
I am looking for a respite break. Are your Centres hotels or residential nursing establishments?
How do I book my break?
What time should I arrive and depart for my break?
How do I get to the Centre?
What do I do about my medication?
Should I bring my own wheelchair?
What's included in the price of my break?
What's not included in the price of my break?
How much money will I need?
What's the difference between theme weeks and other breaks?
May I bring a pet?
Prices
How much deposit do I have to pay?
What if I need to clean my clothes?
What funding options are available?
Smoking
Insurance
How do I contact a Vitalise Centre?
What age group does Vitalise serve?
There is no upper age limit at any of our Centres. The lower age limit is 18, except at Vitalise Netley Waterside House, where it is 16, and at Vitalise Churchtown, where it is six (a carer must accompany any children under the age of 12).
I am looking for a respite break. Are your Centres hotels or residential nursing establishments?
At each of our Centres we have a registration for residential nursing care (except Vitalise Churchtown, which is registered for personal care only). Guests do not have one-to-one care constantly. Our Centres strive to give both disabled people and carers a relaxing break in a holiday-type environment, rather than simply a residential placement. This is why we tend to describe them as short breaks rather than respite breaks.
The Centres are used throughout the year and we strive to maintain high standards at all times. To ensure that we deliver 24-hour assistance, our guests can use an integrated call system that, on occasions, may be heard by other guests.
All Centres are registered with the Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI),who carry out regular inspections.
How do I book my break?
Please see the How to Book page
What time should I arrive and depart for my break?
Check in at all Centres is after 2pm. You must vacate your room by 10am on the day of departure, and the Centre by noon, except at Vitalise Churchtown where you should depart the Centre by 11am.
Arrival at Vitalise Churchtown self-catering lodges should be between 3pm and 7pm.
Early arrival or late departure may be possible by prior arrangement with the Centre, for which there may be an additional charge.
How do I get to the Centre?
Short breaks do not include transport to and from the Centre. However, for those travelling by public transport, arrangements can usually be made with the Centre to collect you from the local train station, bus station or airport for which a small donation may be requested.
We can arrange transport in Vitalise vehicles for groups travelling from a specific area to a Centre on certain weeks. If you would like to organise a group booking, please contact the Vitalise booking office.
Directions to the Centres are in the Our Centres section. Select the section for your Centre and then choose the How to Get There page. Or call the Short Break Bookings Team on 0845 345 1970 and they will assist you.
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What do I do about my medication?
Medication can only be dispensed at the Centre if it is in the original packaging with correct typewritten or printed labelling.
This must include the guest’s name, substance, strength and frequency of medication. This must correspond with dose and administration times in the medical certificate, and sufficient stocks must be provided to cover the period of the break you have booked. Prescribed medication cannot be altered in any way (e.g. crushed). Failure to comply with this may lead to future exclusions and will result in the Centre having to re-order your medication following your arrival, which can lead to inconvenience for you.
Some Centres, including Vitalise Churchtown, cannot give ‘homely remedies’ including over-the-counter prescriptions such as paracetamol and vitamins. Please check with the Centre beforehand.
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Should I bring my own wheelchair?
Yes, particularly if you need one for excursions away from the Centre. We regret that we are unable to provide wheelchairs. We strongly suggest that guests should make any hire arrangements well in advance of their visit. In the interests of your own comfort and safety, we recommend electric wheelchair users bring a manual wheelchair as well.
Wheelchair seatbelts must be worn when on excursions or if accompanied by our staff or volunteers. It’s best to bring your own seatbelt. Some may be available for purchase or hire at Centre shops.
Due to Health and Safety regulations, there may be restrictions for some people using certain types of motorised scooters/powerchairs on our coaches. Powerchairs cannot be used on some excursions. Please contact the Centre in advance to discuss mobility options.
What's included in the price of my short break?
- All meals – these are breakfast, lunch, including packed lunches on excursions, and a three course evening meal, including tea, coffee and squash. Alcoholic drinks are available at extra cost
- Towels and linen
- All in-Centre activities, including evening entertainment
- Excursions to local places of interest
- Personal care
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What's not included in the price of my short break?
- Transport to and from the Centre
- Wheelchairs - guests should bring their own or arrange to hire one prior to arriving at the Centre
- Entrance fees when on excursions, and any extra food or drink purchased on excursions
- Specialised equipment (e.g. Airflow mattresses)
- Insurance
- Drinks from the Centre bar
- Services, such as hairdressing or beauty therapy, supplied by people not employed by the Centre
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How much money will I need?
You will need money for entrance fees to local attractions and for the bar and gift shop. Most guests bring around £50.
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What’s the difference between theme weeks and other breaks?
Every week is an activity week at Vitalise. Theme weeks have special activities centred around an area of interest – see pages 1835 for dates. A full programme continues during nontheme weeks with excursions and entertainment varying throughout the year.
Excursion costs are included in the price of your break except for entrance fees to outside attractions which are normally payable for guests and their accompanying carer or volunteer.
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May I bring a pet?
Only guide and registered assistance dogs are allowed except at the Vitalise Churchtown self-catering lodges, where they may be allowed at the Centre’s discretion. Please contact
Vitalise Churchtown before booking to discuss this.
Prices
Vitalise subsidises the cost of each person’s break through our own charitable fundraising activities and the prices shown in our brochure and on this website have already had these subsidies applied.
Prices shown for guest and carer accommodation are per person, per week. The exceptions are Vitalise Churchtown self-catering lodges, which are per lodge per week and for Vitalise Netley Waterside House suites, which are per suite per week.
The published prices includes the cost of personal care but excludes the cost of nursing care support which is claimed back on behalf of guests from the appropriate Primary Care Trust at the set Registered Nursing Care Contribution rate (currently £101.00).
By signing the UK Centre booking form, guests are providing Vitalise with permission to claim back the cost of any nursing support received during their break from the appropriate Primary Care Trust. This may require information regarding your care and support at Vitalise to be shared with the appropriate Primary Care Trust.
If your break is funded by a Primary Care Trust as part of a continuing care package, the fee charged for the break will be the full fee, inclusive of the registered nursing care contribution.
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How much deposit do I have to pay?
The deposit is £100 per person, per break booked.
What if I need to clean my clothes?
There are facilities for essential laundry only but all clothing must be clearly marked with tape (iron-on tape is not advised).
Vitalise accepts no responsibility for loss or damage to property.
What funding options are available?
Vitalise is a national charity. We constantly fundraise in order to subsidise the cost of each break. Some breaks are also sponsored by our partners, the Alzheimer’s Society and the Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Vitalise works actively to help people with limited incomes to enjoy a break at our Centres.
We help in the following ways:
- By providing information on possible funding sources from your local authority.
- By putting you in touch with other charities who may be able to provide funding.
- By offering a direct grant towards the cost of your break from Vitalise’s Joan Brander Memorial Fund. These funds are limited and we want to ensure that they reach a wide group of people, so grants are unlikely to cover the full cost of a break.
If you know of an individual who desperately needs a Vitalise break but cannot afford it, please ring Vitalise on 0845 345 1972 and ask for the Contracts Department.
Smoking
Smoking is not permitted in Vitalise buildings or vehicles and only allowed in designated areas in our grounds. Please note that we do not expect our staff or volunteers to help with guests’ smoking needs.
Insurance
Vitalise strongly recommends that all guests and carers take out travel insurance which gives protection against cancellation and the majority of incidents that can spoil or affect a holiday.
Vitalise, in partnership with Crispin Speers & Partners Limited and P J Hayman Company Limited, has arranged a travel insurance scheme for guests and carers.
For more information on this policy, or to purchase cover please call 0845 230 0631 or write to:
P J Hayman Company Limited, Stansted House, Rowlands Castle, Hampshire PO9 6DX
How do I contact a Vitalise Centre?
All bookings and related enquiries should be directed to our bookings office: Shap Road Industrial Estate, Shap Road, Kendal, Cumbria LA9 6NZ.
If you need to contact a Centre directly (for instance to confirm your travel arrangements), please use the contact details listed for your Centre in the Our Centres section or the Contact Us section