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 of relevance to carers.
Do let us know if you don't want to get it; that is fine. 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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#NHSThinkCarer
NHS England held two #NHSThinkCarer events in December as part of their Commitment to Carers, one focussed on military families and one on wellbeing. Prof Jane Cummings, Chief Nursing Officer and Senior Responsible Officer for Carers, spoke of Sir Simon Stevens support and of the coping mechanisms carers need.
“Carers is there in STPs, but could be stronger” she said and urged participation in CCG Sustainability and Transformation Plans (STP) development. "People, patients and carers are having more say and the NHS is becoming less matriarchal, offering more choices and self care. Not spending time on considering carers is wrong on so many levels.”
NHS England targets this year are: Primary Care; Carers at End of Life; STPs and work around carers, in partnership; Awards to promote best practice; Military; Carers of people with dementia.
Rather than just talk about wellbeing, the programme was interactive and informative and the invited team and young carers from Carers Trust Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and Norfolk came away with even more contacts, ideas and action lists.
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Ministers approve option for council tax bills rise to fund social care
No measures to plug the funding gap in care services for the elderly and disabled were included in the Chancellor's Autumn Statement, but Communities Secretary Sajid Javid later announced that local authorities will be allowed to raise council tax bills by up to 3% over each of the next two years to help raise cash for social care in local communities.
"Any additional funding for care for vulnerable people and carers is welcomed, but using council tax precepts and them not being compulsory adds to uncertainty and means that the chances of services being a postcode lottery will increase" said Dr Helen Brown.
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National Carers Strategy
The Department of Health have said that the national Carers Strategy will be delayed until the spring.
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Addenbrooke's Discharge Update
We are piloting a scheme to help Addenbrooke's Hospital to save the NHS money by reducing “bed blocking” and using the voluntary sector as well as ourselves to support people at home, which is usually better for them.
We started at the end of July and in the autumn we recruited two staff dedicated to this service. The pilot is taking off and we are now in a position of saving the NHS money, which is great. As well as helping with discharges we also plan to help avoiding hospital admissions that can be avoided.
Results so far are shown below and should be even better in January when a third member of the team is due to join us.
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UK’s first Young Carers Guide to Assessments launched in Norfolk with Norman Lamb MP
A new Norfolk Guide to Assessments for Young Carers and their Families, believed to be the first of its kind in the UK, has been launched in Norwich with Norman Lamb MP describing it as ‘fantastic’.
Key partners of Carers Trust Norfolk came together on Carers Rights Day, Friday 25th November to celebrate the launch of the guide. Norfolk Young Carers Forum, run by Carers Trust Norfolk, has been working with Norfolk County Council Children’s Services to produce a guide to the new statutory right to a Needs Assessment for Young Carers.
Mr Lamb, North Norfolk MP and a former Care Minister, said “It is critically important that we support young carers.”
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Young Carers Awareness Day
26 January 2017
YCAD is a day for celebration.
In Cambridgeshire we are hosting a 'Who Do You Think You Are?' film premiere profiling previous young carers who used our services between 1998-2016. This is being held at Hinchingbrooke Performing Arts Centre; as we work so closely with Hinchingbrooke School, this seems a really apt venue. Professor Saul Becker, a leading academic and researcher of young carers, will be providing the visual key note speech.
In Peterborough we are facilitating a whistle-stop Young Carers tour of schools in the area, raising awareness, leaving information and making contact with schools where we are not currently engaged.
In Norfolk, we are hosting our 'Young Carers in Education' conference. This is being facilitated by Norfolk Young Carers Forum and has keynote educational speakers.
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Annual Care Client Survey Results
Our annual survey of care clients showed some terrific key findings. It has been independently analysed by impact consultants, Aleron. We were delighted with the results which showed:
We know and value our dedicated Carer Support Workers, and it is fantastic to see that our clients feel the same way.
 We and Aleron have been funded by The Big Potential (Lottery grant) to improve our impact and help win more work, especially in Norfolk.
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Online Auction - thank you!
A big thank you to all who supported our Online Charity Auction.
We are delighted to tell you that the auction raised over £3,900 and this will help fund support to more family carers and young carers in Cambridgeshire, Peterborough and Norfolk in 2017.
We intend to run the auction annually and increase the variety of lots we offer, so we can help more people. If you can help with providing lots next year, if you can mention this to people who might be able to help, donations would be gratefully received.
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Great British Care Awards – Cancelled at the last minute!
With the date Tuesday, 29 November firmly set in the diaries of our three staff shortlisted in the East of England Great British Care Awards, and excitement and anticipation running high for a great evening ahead with colleagues, everyone was stunned to discover when they arrived at the Guildhall in Cambridge that it had been cancelled at the last minute - literally!
Despite this huge disappointment, we are incredibly proud of our three staff who are shortlisted for awards which pay tribute to individuals who have demonstrated outstanding excellence within their field of work, representing all areas of the social care sector.
From left: Rebecca, Sadie and Ruth.
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Christmas and New Year opening times
We will have staff working the bank holidays and over the Christmas period and will be on-call throughout the Christmas period.
The office in St Ives will not be manned over the weekend or on Bank Holidays, but an emergency number can be called – this is provided below.
The office in St Ives will be manned during normal office hours (9am to 5.30pm and 4.30pm on Friday) between Wednesday 28 December and Friday 30 December. We will be back in the office on Tuesday 3 January 2017.
Our Rapid Response Team will operate over this period - if a What If? Plan is in place; Carers Trust Cambridgeshire’s emergency response team are trained to risk assess in situ and provide high quality personal and practical support.
Main Number: 01480 499090
Emergency number for the office: 01480 499099
Care Out of Office hours emergency Number: 07985 738854
How to get help over Christmas
Many carers find Christmas a more stressful time of the year with limited services, tight budgets and family strains. Carers UK have provided some useful links on their website which you can signpost carers to.
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Did you know?
- A staggering 1.2 million older people in England are living with some level of unmet care needs, with 0.7 million not receiving any help at all, from either paid carers or family and friends.
- Two in five (41%) residents in UK independent care homes are now paying the full cost of their own care – a big increase in the last 10 years. Self-funders now on average pay between £603 and £827 a week depending on the area, compared to councils paying between £421 and £624 a week.
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