These Terms & Conditions apply to short break service providers listing their services on our online directory.
Shared Care Scotland’s vision is “a Scotland where everyone who receives support or provides unpaid care can live a full and satisfying life, with the assistance they need to take regular, quality breaks from the everyday demands of their caring routines.”
One of the ways in which we do this is through a directory of short break services to enable carers and the people they care for to have easy access to high-quality information to help them find a suitable service. This directory is also one of the tools that we use in order to provide information through our telephone enquiry service.
- We provide information to people with all conditions and of all ages.
- We will not define what type of break an individual should take. We will provide information on the types of break that may be available for individual circumstances, but in all instances the choice of the type of break e.g. befriending, residential respite etc, remains with the individual concerned.
- We also provide information on services irrespective of the way in which they are funded, e.g. local authority funded, charity, community interest company, or private business.
- Shared Care Scotland will provide information on a range of services available. In all instances the choice of the most appropriate service remains with the individuals concerned and Shared Care Scotland will not recommend one service over another.
- We do not act as a booking agent. Our role is limited to providing information on what is available and relevant contact details.
- In providing information we only ever undertake specific searches which match services with needs identified by an individual. We do not provide copies of our database, or sections of it, under client or geographical groupings.
Inclusion criteria for the short break directory
In order to be listed within our directory each organisation must register their name and contact details and agree to Terms & Conditions.
To be included in the directory the service should be listed under one of the following categories:
- Accessible hotels or B&B accommodation
- Accessible self catering accommodation
- Befriending
- Breaks in the home of another family/carer
- Carer breaks
- Clubs or day facilities for short break/respite purposes
- Dedicated short break/respite accommodation
- Residential care home with short break/respite places
- Supported leisure & activity holidays
- Sitter service
- Home care
- Information providers
Where a service provider wishes to be listed in the directory but the service does not fit with one of the above categories this should be discussed with Shared Care Scotland.
Exclusions/removal from the directory
Service providers can add or amend records at anytime using their log-in details. Registered providers will receive an email prompt every 12 months requesting confirmation that the information is up-to-date. Records that have information that is out of date or no longer meet the inclusion criteria are at risk of removal from the directory. Services where the ‘respite’ element of the work is at risk of cancellation, for example a care home where a booked respite break can be cancelled should a permanent resident require a room, will also be excluded. Shared Care Scotland will not promote political parties.
Removal on grounds of service quality
We do not carry out inspections or assessments on the quality of services. We do provides links to the relevant inspectorate where available, and a number of umbrella bodies in order to aid transparency. Where we are made aware of concerns about client safety, allegations or complaints of a serious nature we will suspend a service record from view and await the outcome of investigations or complaint processes. We reserve the right to remove any service from the directory. Where we do we will inform the record owner of the reasons for our decision. In the event that the record owner is unhappy with the decision the Shared care Scotland complaints process can be accessed here.
Data protection
Data provided on services will be shared via our directory in order to make it available to those looking for short break services.
We will store your account data to allow you access to update your service record. We will not share this data with other organisations.