Carers Week: 8-14 June
A practical toolkit has been created by a partnership including Health Innovation Oxford & Thames Valley (HIOTV) to help carers get the support they need from GPs and other primary care professionals.
It contains a wealth of practical advice, a checklist for GP practices and pinpoints other useful resources.
Carers are people who look after someone – a family member, friend or neighbour – who could not manage without them. They are more likely to experience poor health – one in five people who provide at least 50 hours unpaid care each week are in poor health themselves which is close to double the rate in the population at large.
Lucy Asquith, Innovation Adoption Manager, led input from HIOTV. She said: “Supporting carers more effectively benefits the carer, the person they support and the wider community.
“A number of organisations and individuals came together to share their knowledge, experience and expertise to improve the help offered to carers by primary care specifically – and to make it easier for GPs and other primary care-based professionals to make that possible. We hope it makes a difference in the communities where we carried out this work – and further afield too.”
The project was commissioned by NHS Frimley (now part of NHS Thames Valley) with input from five individual carers, the Princess Royal Trust for Carers and the Bracknell and District Primary Care Network (in particular the Oakley Health Group).
It is based on six principles:
- Recognising carers is key – and everyone’s responsibility
- Record accurately and respond
- Flexibility around carers’ needs
- Work with voluntary sector to ensure carers look after themselves
- Monitor changes to carers’ personal situations
- Success relies on leadership, behaviours and systems
Dr Daniel Mason, a GP at Oakley Health Group, said: “Supporting carers to look after their own health is so important because often if their health fails, so does that of the person they care for.
“By helping practices identify carers earlier, we can make sure they receive the information, understanding and support they deserve while continuing to care for others.
“We’re delighted to have been working on this important piece of work that has the potential to transform the experiences of carers, the people they care for, as well as GP practice staff.
“Sharing the toolkit with other GP practices enables all of us working in primary care to know what to look for, to know what conversations to have with patients and also how we can work with other health, social care and voluntary sector services to provide care that supports and protects carers.”
Download Supporting carers: a toolkit for primary care (pdf)