Empowering community nurses to support family carers in the community
“Small changes can be enormously meaningful to the life of a carer,” said Ben Bowers, Queen’s Nursing Community Cancer Nurse Specialist.
With the support of The Queen’s Nursing Institute, the RCN District Nursing Forum hosted this event to update delegates about best practice, and the tools available to enable community nurses to support carers more effectively. This includes the Carers Project – the foundation of which is a free online resource with seven modules including supporting carers, assessment of carers and end of life care.
Attendees watched a powerful short film showing people talking about how their lives have been affected by their role as a carer. Ben Bowers then gave an account of the tools that he used to support a woman looking after her mother, which highlighted how supporting carers to make a few simple changes can make their lives more bearable.
A lively discussion was sparked over how there is no standardised approach across the UK; support is dependent upon where you live, and there is no accountability for carers.
