My name is Lizzie Scott, the founder of CaringStay, a service that is like matchmaking. We match home-owners with people needing somewhere to stay after they have had treatment or need respite. No medical skills required!

It all began when a friend told me how hard it was to cope when she was sent home alone the day after she'd broken her collarbone, and how difficult she found it.

At the same time, friends of Mum were often asking her for a few days support and respite after knee and hip operations, as she loves helping people. These were people who lived alone, who needed a bit of care and support for several days, not medical care, but someone to keep an ear out when they needed help to the bathroom, someone to chat with and to have meals etc all organised. Going home alone after a medical procedure on their own wasn’t a great option.

We know that hospitals are full, and people have to leave, sometimes before they feel fully robust.

We can also see that there are many people, particularly older people whose children had left home, who have good homes, a spare room and more importantly are very willing to offer a helping hand to those in need, as an additional income stream.

Many of these home-owners, like most of us, are being faced with significant cost increases in rates, insurance etc and found their retirement savings weren't going quite as far as they'd expected. (Factoid: house insurance has increased by 300% in the last 5 years in Wellington; food inflation in 2023 was 9.6%; and just wait until the rate increases arrive).

So I thought, if these kind, capable people who had nice homes with spare rooms, could be hosts, offering respite for a few days to people leaving the hospital, going home alone, did I have a business?

Bingo!