Category Archives: Carers

Chloe Smith says: Join local carers in ‘Carers Week’ donation morning

June 13, 2013   Carers, carersweek, internet

Chloe Smith says: can you donate old computers? Join local carers in ‘Carers Week’ donation morning

June 12, 2013

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Chloe Smith, Member of Parliament for Norwich North, will on Friday 14th June join a locally-run carers group to call for simple help from the community.

Chloe will be joining “Chill4Us” at a coffee session hosted at Peter Taylor Funeral Directors to show her support and recognition of the hard work of carers.

“Chill4Us” host online chat sessions to reach out to carers who may feel isolated whilst often being confined to their homes whilst looking after their loved one. Chloe has supported her Hellesdon constituent, who runs the group, many times in the past.

Chloe is supporting Chill4Us’ ‘Computers For Carers’ campaign by appealing to local businesses or individuals to show support for local carers by asking for donations of computers and laptops that are no longer needed, so that they can be given to carers who cannot afford computer equipment themselves.

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Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust 'should rethink' cuts

June 13, 2013   Carers, mental health, Norfolk

Rethink “inadvisable cuts”

The resignation of the chief executive of Norfolk and Suffolk’s mental health services will provide an opportunity to rethink “inadvisable cuts”, the British Medical Association (BMA) has said.

 Aidan Thomas is leaving the post at the end of the month.

Aidan Thomas is leaving the Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, which plans to cut up to 500 jobs.

The BMA’s Dr Rob Harwood said it was a time of “disruption and upheaval”.

“Staff are increasingly concerned about the safety and quality of services,” he said.

The trust is looking to save £40m over four years and could lose 49 doctors’ posts.

‘Safe services’

Dr Harwood, chairman of the Eastern regional consultants committee, said the BMA “admired Mr Thomas’s energy, sincerity and commitment” and was “sorry that he has resigned”.

But he urged the trust to use the change in leadership as a chance to reconsider its planned cuts.

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Social care and health professionals should do more to support family carers

June 13, 2013   Carers, carersweek, Social care

The UK’s 6.5m unpaid carers play a vital role, yet too often their contribution is ignored or misunderstood

Professionals are uniquely placed to recognise the role carers perform. They can help them with local support and services.

Unpaid carers are vitally important partners in supporting people to live independently. If we accept this, then it naturally follows that social care and health professionals have a fundamental role in helping carers to recognise how important their work is.

This year, Skills for Care, of which I am chief executive, is delighted to be supporting Carers Week (10-16 June), the theme of which is Prepared to Care? Over the course of this week we are working with social care and health professionals to see how they can pro-actively support the UK’s 6.5 million carers.

Social care and health professionals might not always fully understand the central role of the carer or, worse still, ignore it. We know that sometimes professionals don’t listen to what they are saying or may even see the carer as interfering and not acting in the best interests of the service user. But by embracing the role of the carer and helping them to understand their role we can avoid adversarial situations that can arise between professionals and carers. It makes much more sense to recognise people in a caring role as a major partner in the delivery of a person’s support and to support the carer also.

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