Dear <<First name>>,
We send our monthly e-newsletter, iCare, to keep you informed of news about family carers and let you know highlights of our work supporting young and adult carers. There's been a lot in the press about adult social care which is of relevance to carers.
Do let us know if you no longer want to receive iCare. You can unsubscribe at the bottom of this page. Even better, tell us what you’d like included to stay subscribed.
Please forward this e-newsletter to any colleagues who might be interested and they can sign-up to receive iCare themselves on our website.
Yours sincerely,
Helen Brown
Chief Executive
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March 2017 Budget
The gloss of the £2 billion funding promise for social care announced in this month’s Budget has been tainted following the Chancellor’s decision not to proceed with plans to raise national insurance for self-employed workers.
This will leave a £2 billion black hole in Phillip Hammond’s Budget plans to fund social care, and we have to wait until the Autumn Budget for an announcement on how he will plug this gap.
It’s vitally important that this funding will be allocated to social care to provide the help that carers desperately need, with demand constantly rising to support our increasing ageing population.
This debacle comes at the same time as Carers Trust publishes new data that shows more than half the nation isn’t geared up to care for their family or friends, nor have they considered what would happen if they needed to be cared for.
The findings follow a YouGov survey which showed that 58% of people haven’t spoken to their family and friends about what care they would need if they couldn’t look after themselves, while 46% said they had not thought about having a caring role in their future.
These findings raise grave concerns that little or no provisions are being put in place, and the pressures that families will face if they do not plan ahead for this.
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Charting what's gone wrong with social care
With increased pressure on social care reaching crisis levels and solutions still desperately needed, BBC Health Correspondent Nick Triggle has created 10 charts that explain the dilemma we face, and why.
They show that despite the fact that social care funding has stopped rising in recent years, local authorities spend more than half their budgets on this.
The number of older people receiving care from councils has fallen by over a quarter between 2008-09 and 2013-14. This is likely to place greater pressure on family carers, with Nick reporting that while 4 in 10 people in care homes pay for themselves, others rely on family and friends to look after them, and sadly growing numbers are left to struggle with little or no help.
Nick asks if the NHS is left filling the social care gap, with people remaining in hospital if they cannot get the care they need. This is why we are proud of our work with Addenbrooke’s Hospital’s START team to support people to return home and to be supported to avoid another admission into hospital.
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Thanks for referring to us
In the ten months to February 2017 we have had nearly 3,000 carers referred to us from a total of 271 other organisations, of which 1,800 were new to us. This is excellent as you are helping us to reach and support more family carers. The 14 organisations who referred the most to us are listed below:
The difference it makes
We always aim to assess the impact we have had on the lives of the family carers we support. 95% said they find the information we provide useful.
Outcomes last year for our Family Carers' Prescription included 89% saying they were less stressed and 89% said their health had improved or did not deteriorate. 48% of prescriptions avoided a hospital admission.
91% of those who had a Carer's Assessment said that it had helped them in their caring role.
98% of our Young Carers and Young Adult Carers said that our support had helped them in their caring role.
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New Ely Carers Hub Launched
We are delighted to launch our latest Carers Hub in Ely to support family carers in the area.
The official opening is on Friday, 31 March, 10.30am-2pm, at the Larkfield Centre, High Barns and is supported by our partners, including Age UK, Alzheimer’s Society, Care Network, Ely Library, Headway, MS Society, Parkinson’s UK and Pos+Ability. Booking is essential for the launch so that we can cater for lunch - please see our website for details.
Staff and volunteers will be on hand to provide wide ranging information to promote the health and wellbeing of family carers, with expert speakers invited and holistic therapies available.
Carers and the people they look after can both have a break as there is space for them to meet separately for a coffee and a chat.
This is a great opportunity for community, voluntary and statutory groups and organisations to work together and share ideas to support our fantastic family carers.
The group will meet on the last Friday of the month. Please do contact us if you would like to come along or need further information and let others know who may be interested.
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Still time to nominate
We are delighted to have had some fantastic nominations for our Pride in Our Carers Awards in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough – and we welcome more. There is still time to let us know about a special family carer or carer friendly organisation who has gone the extra mile.
The deadline for nominations is 7 April.
This is a great opportunity to say THANK YOU to someone who has made a big difference to someone’s life in a caring capacity, including social care providers and healthcare professionals.
The winners will be announced on Tuesday 13 June at our celebratory 'Sharing the Caring' event in Cambridge, held in partnership with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust, Cambridgeshire County Council and Peterborough City Council.
Click here to make a nomination.
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Carers Week 2017
If you are planning to hold an event during national Carers Week, 12-18 June, we can publicise it for you on our website. Please go to www.carerstrustcambridgeshire.org/media-centre/event-booking.
The page is password protected so please email comms@carerstrustcambridgeshire.org to get the password in the first instance.
For events in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, we can also include them in the Carers Magazine. The deadline for entry is 3 April.
The Carers Magazine is a great resource for family carers and you can sign-up to receive it via email.
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Why we love what we do...
Chloe is still at school. She supports her mum, who has mental health and other issues. She had not seen her dad for 18 months. He had been involved in a car accident six years ago and required full time care in a residential home in Leeds. We were able to take Chloe to visit her dad during half-term. It was an emotional day and many tears were shed, not just by Chloe.
“Thank you for making this day possible, I didn’t think I would get to see my dad again.”
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Rate iCare
We appreciate your feedback. Please let us know what you think about this enewsletter below.
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If you would like to give more detailed feedback please email comms@carerstrustcambridgeshire.org.
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Did you know?
- Up to 1.5 million people in the UK care for someone with mental ill health.
- There are 50,000 children and young people looking after someone with mental ill health in the UK.
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