Support for Carers

All carers have the right to ask for an Assessment of their needs. This is called a ‘Carer’s Assessment’. This is separate from an assessment that the person you care for might have. You can request a Carers Assessment regardless of whether the person you care for is receiving an assessment themselves.

The term ‘assessment’ can sound scary, but it is just a conversation about you and your caring role. The assessment will explore the impact of your caring role and how it affects other aspects of your life, such as work, health and wellbeing and accessing the community.

If eligible needs are identified, a support plan will be put in place which will detail the support Focus is providing you to help you in your caring role.

The kind of support you could receive depends on your circumstances, but here are some of the things that Focus can explore during an assessment:

• Signposting and referrals to local support groups
• Help with your caring role, this may include professional carer support or a direct payment to support you
• Support for you to have a break from your caring role
• Contingency planning – what would happen if you couldn’t support the person you care for? What support would be needed?

If you would like to discuss your caring role and/or request a carers assessment you can contact Focus Adult Social Work on 01472 256256 (Option 2).

A Carer’s Assessment is an opportunity to talk with a professional about your needs as a carer. It’s a chance to explore how your caring role affects your life and whether there are aspects you find difficult, need support with, or would like to change. We encourage anyone with caring responsibilities to request an assessment.

Before you contact us, it may help to think about the following areas. You might find it useful to jot down your thoughts:

• Who (if anyone) you’d like to be involved in your assessment
• What you’re finding difficult and how it’s affecting your daily life
• Your caring role—how you manage and whether it’s preventing you from doing things you want or need to do
• Your health—how it affects you, and whether caring is impacting your physical or mental wellbeing
• Looking after yourself and staying safe (e.g. eating well, getting enough sleep, taking breaks, caring safely, feeling safe)
• Planning for difficulties and emergencies
• Things you enjoy doing and what’s important to you
• Support you already have—what’s working well (e.g. help from family or friends, your GP, equipment or aids, paid carers)
• Anything that has worked well in the past
• What you’d like to achieve or do more of

A Carer’s eligibility to receive services is based on identifying and meeting the following criteria (Care Act 2014):

• Do the needs arise because the carer is providing necessary care and support?
• Is the carer’s physical or mental health affected or at risk of deteriorating, or is the carer unable to achieve any of the listed outcomes?
• Is there a significant impact on the carer’s wellbeing?

When we talk about outcomes, we mean the things that matter to you—how you want to live your life and what support you might need to get there. A carer’s assessment will look at the following outcomes with that in mind:

• carrying out any caring responsibilities the carer has for a child
• providing care to other persons for whom the carers provides care
• maintaining a habitable home environment in the carer’s home
• managing and maintaining nutrition
• developing and maintaining family or other personal relationships
• engaging in work, training, education or volunteering
• making use of necessary facilities or services in the local community, including recreational facilities or services
• engaging in recreational activities

Carers can be eligible for support whether or not the adult for whom they care has eligible needs.

The full criteria are detailed in the Care and Support Statutory Guidance 2014 (Chapter 6 Eligibility).

In North East Lincolnshire there are several ways to get advice on the support available to carers. Here’s a helpful guide:

North East Lincolnshire Single Point of Access (SPA): 01472 256256 is available 24/7 and has several options, all of which can be very helpful to you as a carer.

01472 256256 Option 1: Clincal Assessment Service – if you or the person you care for are feeling unwell and unsure if medical help is needed, call the Clinical Assessment Service and talk to a local clinician. They can give a range of  medical advice and offer support if someone has fallen at home and needs help.

(In the case of a medical emergency call 999).

01472 256256 (Option 2) Focus Independent Adult Social Care – Focus delivers statutory adult social care services, including operational adult safeguarding on behalf of North East Lincolnshire Council. You can contact us to discuss the support available to carers, including carers’ assessments, carer sits, and respite. You may also call us if you, or the person you care for, need additional support at home. This includes paid carer support, community therapy referrals, support for sensory impairments, advice on paying for care, extra care housing, supported living, and signposting to other local services.

01472 256256 (Option 3) Navigo Mental Health –  if you or the person you care for is in a mental health crisis and need urgent help. You can also text ORANGE to 85258 to start an anonymous SMS conversation.

If you or the person you care for is in immedicate physical danger call 999.

01472 256256 (Option 4) Hospital Discharge Team –  if someone you care for is in hospital the Hospital Discharge Team can support you with discharge arrangements.

01472 256256 (Option 5) Connect NEL – local signposting service

1 Town Hall Square, Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire,  DN31 1HY.

Tel: 01472 242277   Website: www.carerssupportcentre.com

The Carer Support Service, offers a range of services to support Carers who live in North East Lincolnshire. This includes:

• Information and Benefits Advice
• Emotional support, Support Groups and Befriending
• Training
• Counselling
• Advocacy
• Day care services and Holistic therapies

The Carers’ Support Service can also connect Carers with other sources of information, advice and support, to help ensure they get the right support at the right time, including accessing a Carer’s Needs Assessment.

Val Waterhouse Centre, 41-43 Kent Street, Grimsby DN32 7DH

Tel: 01472 571100   Email: cpg.cldt@nhs.net    Website: www.careplusgroup.org

The Carers Wellbeing Team support carers of older people (over the age of 60) and carers of adults who have a learning or physical disability.

carers. This can be through face-to-face visits in their homes, in the community, telephone or by email if that is their preference. Contacts can be weekly, monthly or whatever the carer feels they need at any stage in their journey. The contact and support also continue when their cared-for moves to supported housing or into permanent care.

The team provides emotional and practical support. For example, support with attending meetings, completing paperwork, and signposting them to other organisations that provide further help. They are there to provide a listening ear to hear our carer’s struggles and look at what they may need at that time to make their lives a little easier – respite, day care etc.

They also arrange social events such as trips to York Christmas market, meals at various restaurants, theatre trips, walks and ten pin bowling – to name a few.

This service is for those caring for someone with a memory impairment or if you care for someone who is a Navigo service user or someone who has a mental illness.

Tel: 01472 806800 Email: NAV.carers@nhs.net    Website: www.navigocare.co.uk

You’ll be offered the opportunity to get involved in Navigo’s carers groups and, if you’d like a carer’s needs assessment they can carry out an assessment with you to establish the support you need or alternatively signpost you to other agencies. If you are the carer of a service user who is supported by older people’s services, you will be signposted to Focus, to carry out your assessment.

A carer’s needs assessment will look at the different ways that caring affects your life and work out how you can carry on doing the things that are important to you and your family. Your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing will be at the heart of this assessment. You can have an assessment no matter what your level of need, the amount of care you provide or your financial means.

Navigo also have Admiral Nurses who can work with family carers of all ages. They offer family carers a skilled assessment of their needs, provide information on the nature of the illness and signpost to services that may be available to them.

Admiral Nurses help the carer to develop strategies to improve their skills in caring. They offer practical advice to help carers cope. This includes emotional support and can be short-term as well as ongoing dependent on a carer’s need. This may be pre-diagnosis or may extend beyond bereavement.