Joint Carers Strategy

Please see below an update from Commissioner Linzi Adams

“In 2023, we launched our Joint All Age Carers Strategy for Nottinghamshire. The strategy has been co-produced with carers, health partners, and colleagues from Nottinghamshire County and Nottingham City Council for the whole of the ICS footprint. We held a launch event in November 2023, which many of you attended. Since the launch, we have been working on many things to support in implementing the strategy, please see below:-

• Key themes from the launch.
• What we need to change and how that would positively impact carers.
• Our progress with implementing the strategy.
• A request to let us know how you are doing (your pledge).

We hope that you are making good progress with ensuring that we all ‘Think Carer’ and you can share some of your success stories with us.”

What you told us we should change – key themes from discussions:

1. Flexible support: Ensure a variety of support is available for carers of all ages and backgrounds, fitting the needs of the whole family.
2. Carer-centred support: Take a carer-centred approach, listening to the carer and viewing them as an individual. Keep the carer involved in decision-making and planning
3. Fully trained professionals: All professionals to be fully informed about carers and what’s available for them for support. No wrong doors for carers to access the right support.
4. Effective communication: Use clear and varied ways of communicating to reach as many carers as possible.

If we get this right, you told us that carers:

1. Wellbeing is improved: Improved carer mental health and wellbeing with reduced crisis, stress, frustration, and anxiety.
2. Feel listened to: Carers feel reassured they are listened to without judgement and have recognition and value as individuals.
3. Will experience reduced isolation: Carers feel less isolated if able to socialise and have their own identity with time to themselves to spend as they wish
4. Will access support and information when needed: Carers can access the right support from a central information point before reaching crisis across the system, and can access the right information and other opportunities
5. Changing needs are met: Carers get access to hands-on ‘person-centred’ support to their changing circumstances, from named professionals who’ll manage expectations and explain what will happen next.

How will you focus on these key areas to improve support for carers?

Five Key Areas of Focus 2024-2025

Earlier this year, the Carers Strategy Board identified five key priority areas to be addressed, which are:

1. GP Practices (early identification and support – most carers turn up at GPs, who need to get better at identifying carers)
2. Support for parent carers (gaps in support and service provision for parent carers)
3. Support for carers of people who are End of Life (EOL) (support through EOL and bereavement needed)
4. Identifying and supporting hard-to-reach carers, including Deaf carers (Deaf carers are underrepresented and find access to support difficult due to a lack of BSL)
5. Young carers and young adult carers (to ensure we adopt the national ‘No Wrong Doors’ approach to provide better pathways to support for young carers)

Implementing the Strategy – successes and progress to date:

• Launched the Strategy, ensuring all carer support links back to the strategy/evidence
• Identified 5 areas of focus for 2024-2025
• Co-produced the new carers support services (Oct 23): Carers Hub Service, Young Carers Notts, Carers Respite, Carers Engagement
• Increased ways to reach and identify carers in GP practices, schools, and colleges
• Introduced flexible breaks from caring (respite/ wellbeing)
• Begun to improve joint working across social care to support parent carers
• Introduced the Carers Quality Mark for local employers
• Agreed to adopt National Initiatives e.g., No Wrong Doors for Young Carers
• Established a Carers Discussion Group in relation to the 5 key areas for 2024-2025
• The co-design and co-production of a new joint Carers Information booklet
• The co-design and co-production of the Carers Roadshows 2024
• Project work on the ‘plumbing and wiring’ of carers’ Short Breaks
• Wider promotion of the Carers Strategy and what it means for health and social care professionals
• Exploring and identifying digital support for carers
• Changed internal systems to enable better conversations with carers when they make contact – so they don’t have to tell their story twice
• Introduced ‘Carer Champion’ roles in social care
• Targeted funding bid for three projects identified, which have a carers theme: Shared Lives, Technology Enabled Care, and Online care and support directory

Professional pledges to carers

• We asked participants at the launch event to complete a pledge of what action they’ll take away from what they heard and learnt. A total of 51 pledges were submitted at the end of the event. Grouped themes collated:
  • Promote the strategy
  • Involve and engage colleagues
  • Support others (carers)
  • Get colleagues and peers to ‘think carer’
  • Share information about support available to carers
  • Become involved to make change happen
  • Self-help and awareness
  • Inform others (carers and/or colleagues)