Within the My Life, My Choice project £200k is being spent on providing ongoing support for Carers. This is being focused on two key areas.
Support for Carers from GP Practices
Developing an emergency response card and contingency planning service
Support for Carers from GP Practices
Four GP based projects have been set up to provide support for Carers. The practices taking part include Torrington Health Centre in Torrington, Rolle Medical Partnership & Imperial Medical Practice in Exmouth and Coleridge Medical Centre in Ottery St Mary.
Advice and Support Workers
All of the practices have an Advice and Support Worker working alongside practice staff to raise the profile of Carers within the surgery. They are working to ensure that Carers receive the best recognition, support and services available from the practice.
Our aim is to significantly increase the number of Carers identified by the practice and ensure that staff who work at the practice have a better understanding of Carers and their needs.
Contact details for the Advice and Support Workers. We are producing posters and leaflets for each practice.
Torrington Health Centre, Poster and Leaflet
Sharon Star
01805 622247
sharon.star@nhs.net
Rolle Medical Partnership, Exmouth, Poster and Leaflet
Mandy Tuckett
01395 226545
amandatuckett@nhs.net
Coleridge Medical Centre, Ottery St Mary,
Vikki Bowes
01404 814447
vikkibowes@nhs.net
Imperial Medical Practice, Exmouth
Christine Hodges
01395 280365
chrishodges@nhs.net
In addition to advice and support practices may be offering:
Health Checks
This could include blood pressure checks; flu jabs; moving and handling assessment; health prevention/general advice on the implications of caring; information on specific conditions or onward referral to other agencies.
Counselling Service
Carers are being offered an assessment to see if they would benefit from counselling which recognises the emotional demands of caring.
Occupational Health
This includes services to help Carers if they have been ill and want to return to ‘work’. If it is felt that a Carer needs more help than can be offered from the Advice and Support Worker they will be offered the opportunity to attend a surgery run by an Occupational Health Nurse and a Care Manager.
The aim of the Carers Health Checks, Carers Counselling Service and Occupational Health is that as a direct result of these projects there will be an improvement in the overall health and well being of a significant number of the Carers.
Developing an emergency response card and contingency planning service
In times of sudden change or crisis Carers need to ensure that those who they care for are safe and looked after. A Contingency Planning Service and Emergency Response Card is being set up to ensure this is the case.
The Contingency Planning Service will help Carers to set up and keep up to date their Contingency Plan and ensure that is available through Carers Link so that in an emergency it can be accessed. This will be linked to the Carer having an Emergency Response Card which would allow the person who is with the Carer at the time of a crisis to contact the county wide call centre and put the Contingency Plan into action.
This project will bring many benefits, the most important one Carers tell us will be the ‘peace of mind’ that having an Emergency Response Card and a Contingency Plan will bring.
We hope that in addition to this it will bring many other benefits including an increase in the number of Carers carrying an Emergency Response Card and having an up to date and accessible Contingency Plan. We also hope that it will raise the profile of other services available to support Carers e.g. Take a Break and Telecare.
Many carers become isolated through the demands of their caring responsibilities and their own
suffers as a result.
Carers
