"When I arrived and looked round and saw how beautiful the place was, I actually cried. I cried because I felt understood and valued. Someone who donated that beautiful break must have understood, somewhere in their life, that caring is a tough job. For those few hours, I left it all behind. I actually felt human and valued." This was the response of an ‘informal’ unpaid carer on arriving at one of the hotels in the UK that works with charity Carefree to donate rooms so carers can have a break, free of charge.

This year, one of the hotel chains registered with Carefree, the Q Hotels Collection, announced an impressive milestone: by July it had given over 1,000 breaks to unpaid carers across their portfolio of resorts having begun its initiative for carers in January 2022.

Carefree is a charity that liaises with hotels to transform vacant hotel accommodation into short breaks for full-time unpaid carers, who are rarely recognised for their frontline role and don’t have the same support as NHS staff or paid domiciliary care workers. Without a Carefree break, 88 percent of the carers helped wouldn’t have been able to take a break; 96 percent said it improved their wellbeing, 77 percent said they felt less socially isolated and 88 percent said they felt better able to cope with their caring role, and 86 percent said they wouldn’t have been able to take a break without this programme.

Unpaid carers are like an invisible army bearing arms for the disabled, many of whom are living with dementia. Around 1.5 million carers in England and Wales do over 50 hours of unpaid care work per week. Collectively they save the economy £162 billion per year.

Q Hotels is delighted with carers’ responses to their hospitality. Someone who’d stayed at their Forest Pines Hotel and Golf Course said, "That feeling of being free; walking in the woodland for miles with my dog, having my breakfast made for me and staff at the hotel were incredibly helpful. The hotel itself was superb. For the first time in a long time I was able to do what I wanted and when I wanted. Thank you."

Carers can sign up with Carefree online at https://carefreespace.org/take-a-break/.

Of course, before carers can take a break, they have to arrange for respite care for the person they are looking after, either in a registered care home or with another friend or family member, although there are holiday companies that arrange holidays for both carer and recipient, such as Respite Holidays. The only respite hotel I can find that can cater for both care recipient and the carer is the Merton Hotel, in Ross on Wye, funded by the Birmingham Round Table. A friend who is caring for her husband with dementia says it is her ‘life-saver‘. If you know of similar hotels, please let me know, so I can share their information.