Carers Welcome booklet
Date issued: November 2022
Review date: November 2024
Ref: D-306/EA/Corporate/Carers v2
PDF: Carers Welcome Booklet final November 2022 v2.pdf[pdf] 410KB
Welcome
The person you care for is now receiving a service from University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust. We would like to acknowledge the care you provide, as well as the physical and emotional energy it can take to be a carer. We would like to support you with this task and to always be more ‘carer aware’.
This leaflet has been written to provide you with further information about what is available to support you whilst the person you care for is staying with us.
Your feedback is important to us, and we encourage all carers to complete our carers survey, so that we can ensure our services continue to support you. To complete our survey, please use the following link https://tinyurl.com/snnbnarz or scan the QR code below using your smart phone. Paper copies are also available from our Welcome Hub on Level 6.
How do you know if you are a carer?
A carer is anyone, including children and adults who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction and cannot cope without their support. The care they give is unpaid. When we refer to carers in this document, this is inclusive of both adult and young carers. Family and friends often don’t see themselves as carers and it takes them an average of two years to acknowledge their role as a carer
(NHS website: Understanding Carers).
It can be difficult for carers to see their caring role as separate from the relationship they have with the person for whom they care whether that relationship is as a parent, child, sibling, partner, or a friend.
It’s likely that every one of us will have caring responsibilities at some time in our lives with the challenges faced by carers taking many forms. Many carers juggle their caring responsibilities with work, study and other family commitments. Some, in particular younger carers, are not known to be carers. They don’t tell relatives, friends or health and care professionals about their responsibilities because of a fear of separation, guilt, pride or other reasons.
This means the sort of roles and responsibilities that carers have to provide varies widely. They can range from help with everyday tasks such as getting out of bed and personal care such as bathing, to emotional support such as helping someone cope with the symptoms of a mental illness.
The person may live with you or elsewhere, they may be an adult or a child, but if they rely on you for support, then you are entitled to support as a carer.
Anyone can become a carer. Carers come from all walks of life, all cultures, and can be any age. You may be a wife, husband, parent, partner, friend, uncle, niece, colleague, or neighbour. No matter what your relationship, if the person you care for can not manage without your support, then you are a carer.
Young Carer
How do you know if you are a young carer?
Young carers are children and young persons under 18 who provide care, assistance or support to another family member who has a disability, is physically or mentally ill, or has a substance misuse problem. They carry out, often on a regular basis, significant or substantial caring tasks, taking on a level of responsibility that is inappropriate to their age or development.
Some of the ways young people care for someone are:
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Staying at home to be there and provide support for the person you care for.
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Helping them to get up, get washed or dressed, or helping with toileting.
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Doing lots of household chores like shopping, cleaning and cooking.
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Looking after younger brothers and sisters.
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Providing emotional support or a shoulder to cry on.
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Helping to give medicine.
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Helping with communication.
As a young carer you should:
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Make sure you have time to be a young person.
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Get the same opportunities as your friend.
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Get support for yourself and the person you help to look after.
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Know your rights and have them acknowledged.
More information and guidance is available online https://carers.org/about-us/about-young-carers
How you might be feeling as a carer
Carers say that the role of a carer can often be very rewarding and report a great sense of pride in what they and the person they care for achieves.
At the same time, carers report some negative feelings and mixed emotions. Having to cope with a dependent adult or child whose needs may be complex can be a difficult situation and one for which you feel unprepared. For example, you may feel that your carer role has changed your relationship with the person you care for and has affected your relationship with other family members, and even changed you too; maybe it has made you feel more anxious and stressed?
Being a carer can mean you often get no time to yourself and can become a lifelong commitment.
Caring for the carer
University Hospital Plymouth is aware of how difficult the carer role can be and values the vital work done by you. We recognise the essential role of carers in supporting people with physical and mental health problems, learning disabilities and autism.
The Trust also recognises the impact that caring responsibilities have on carers and that there is a need to support and help people in their caring role. Periods of inpatient care can be an additional burden for carers. The uncertain situation may increase anxiety and stress levels whilst the emotional and physical strain of hospital visits may lead to greater exhaustion.
Please ask staff on the ward for help and access to the healthcare professionals who are caring for the person you care for. Our staff have access to turn on a Carers icon on the health record of the person you care for, which helps our teams easily identify your caring role and ensure appropriate support is offered to you. Please speak to our staff to make sure this icon is turned on.
The period after discharge from hospital can be a particularly difficult time for both patient and carer, extra emotional and practical support may be needed, and it is important that you are fully prepared and know what to expect.
Our Carers Policy is in place to support you; we encourage you to speak to the ward staff about how we can work in partnership to ensure the person you care for receives the best treatment whilst an inpatient with us. As a carer (during the inpatient stay) you may be entitled to:
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Carers card
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Drinks and meal vouchers
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Help with parking arrangements
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Access to Improving Lives Plymouth for carers advice and assessments
Your help with the discharge and planning arrangements is so important to us.
Your wellbeing
When you are focusing on the person you are caring for it is important that you do not neglect your own wellbeing. Below are some tips that many people say have helped them improve their sense of wellbeing. Some of these may seem obvious, but they can often be forgotten during the course of a busy day:
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Make time for yourself.
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Learn to say ‘no’: you cannot do everything.
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Don't neglect your own health needs.
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Find time to rest and get enough sleep.
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Focus on the positive aspects of your life: what do you enjoy? What are you good at?
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Find an exercise you enjoy that gives you time for yourself.
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Talk to someone: a friend, family member or phone support from a carer group.
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Ask for a carer’s assessment or a review of your needs whenever you need it.
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Keep important numbers near your phone.
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Ask your GP to register you as a carer as this will make it easier when seeking support and benefits.
Hospital Carer Support Service
The hospital has a dedicated Carer Support Service in place and the team are based at Derriford hospital Monday to Friday with support workers from Improving Lives Plymouth, Devon Carers and Cornwall Carers involved in providing this service.
This service is in place to support Carers who are looking after someone who is in hospital and to help with your carer needs. This service looks to address concerns arising from the possible increase in caring responsibilities for you following the discharge to home of the person that you look after.
A Hospital Carer Support Worker will offer you 1:1 guidance and advice following the discharge from hospital. They will discuss with you your current situation, what your supporting role entails and what you are finding to be a stress or strain. The Hospital Carer Support Worker will be able to look for solutions to help you – they will continue to work with you for up to 6 weeks, re-assessing the situation and the support in place as needed.
Practical support can be put in place for a limited time to ease stress or strain, this could include:
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Delivery of meals
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Cleaning and home-help, shopping, or support with setting up online shopping
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Transport to and from appointments
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Sitting service
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Purchase of non-medical equipment such as white goods, electronics, aids
This is not an exhaustive list, as the team try to be as creative as possible when looking for solutions to ease the situation.
If you would like to speak to a hospital carer support colleague, you can call their dedicated telephone line on 01752 438907. Please leave a message with your contact details and someone will call you back as soon as they can.
Help and Support
Learning Disability Team
The team are available to help you, and can be contacted on:
Email: plh-tr.learningdisabilityhospitalteam@nhs.net
Telephone: 01752 431566
Improving Lives Plymouth
Telephone: 01752 201890.
Email: caringforcarers@improvinglivesplymouth.org.uk
Website: www.imporvinglivesplymouth.org.uk
Devon Carers
Telephone: 03456 434435
Email: info@devoncarers.org.uk
Website: www.devoncarers.org.uk
Cornwall Carers
Telephone: 01736 756655
Website: www.cornwallcarers.org.uk
Other Support Organisations
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Carers Trust www.carers.org
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Alzheimer’s Society 0333 150 3456 www.alzheimers.org.uk
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Parkinson’s UK Helpline: 0808 800 0303 www.parkinsons.org.uk |
Plymouth Autistic Society NASplymouthadultaspergersbranch@nas.org.uk
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Mencap Helpline: 0808 808 1111 Mencap Plymouth: 01752 561915
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Age UK Plymouth 01752 256020
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Family and Friend Carer Passport
Family and Friend Carer Passports are in place to help you identify as a carer and help us identify you as a carer.
The Carer Passport identifies you as a carer and alerts, emergency services in the event of an emergency. The card is credit sized and can be carried in your purse, wallet or bag. It gives you peace of mind and may help you be less anxious about going out and leaving the person you care for at home. In addition, it can help give you peace of mind that if anything happens to you. The details on your card may also be used to ensure the person you care for is safe.
Devon and Cornwall Police and South Western Ambulance Service will recognise the Carers Alert Card as identification of you being a Family and Friend carer.
In addition, a Carers Passport gives you:
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Discounts at participating businesses
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Access to information and support to help you with caring
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An opportunity to connect with other carers
If you do not already have a carers passport, you can sign up through your local carers service.
Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)
PALS offer impartial advice and help with any concerns and dissatisfaction as soon as possible. This will allow them to quickly put things right for you.
If you have a concern or a complaint, we want to resolve it.
It is very important that you let the staff involved know of your concerns and dissatisfaction as soon as possible. This will allow them to quickly put things right for you.
If you feel that you are not able to speak directly to a member of staff you can ask to speak to the person in charge, in any department or ward you are visiting. Usually, they can help resolve things for you.
If not, they can advise and arrange further assistance.
We assure you that if you make a complaint, this will not compromise your care, or that of a member of your family.
How to contact PALS:
Monday – Friday 09:15am – 4:30pm Level 6
Please visit the Welcome Centre level 6 where we will be happy to see you and listen to your concerns.
Phone us
01752 439884 or 432564
Internal calls 39884 or 32564
Email us plh-tr.PALS@nhs.net
Write to us
Patient Advice & Liaison Office (PALS)
Patient Services, Level 7
Derriford Hospital
Plymouth
PL6 8DH
