Carers
Carers Week has always been about increasing visibility and support for those who give their time, energy and commitment to care for family, friends and loved ones. Which is why, as we emerge from the privations of the pandemic, this year’s theme of making carers more ‘visible, valued and supported’ has never been more relevant.
Being an unpaid carer during a global pandemic takes its toll, as does its aftermath. The impact is not just physical and emotional, it’s financial too. From speaking with her networks of unpaid carers, Fatima Khan-Shah knows these issues are front and centre of their minds during this year’s Carers Week.
One of the reasons, if not the main inspiration, Deborah Sturdy accepted the post of Chief Nurse for Adult Social Care had been her desire to honour, support and encourage this country's amazing care profession through some very challenging times. Read her latest blog, marking a day of reflection and remembrance for social care.
If the last two years have taught us anything, it’s the fundamental truth that collective action, free of self-interest, prejudice or judgement, can achieve amazing things. International Women’s Day has chosen ‘break the bias’ as this year’s theme. I believe we can all draw strength from its ideal in these worrying times.
Family, friends, and external carers are integral to care home residents’ wellbeing and safety. The relationships they have with their loved ones underpin who they are and remain just as important, if not more so, when people move into a residential service.
Friends, family and colleagues are all great sources of information. Sometimes, this comes from chance encounters, when you’re walking the dog or dropping off the kids. It doesn’t matter what the situation is, hearing about what other people did in that situation can help. Social care is no different and a new website sets out to demonstrate exactly that...
"Every year, when Carers UK holds Carers Rights Day, it’s an opportunity to raise awareness. People don’t see themselves as unpaid carers but as partners, wives, husbands, sons, daughters, and close friends first. Yet, providing unpaid care to someone who has a health condition, who is older or who has a disability, can have a profound impact on their health, wellbeing, paid work and relationships." Carers UK CEO Helen Walker explains more...
Involving people with lived experience will be an essential element of social care reform, as will the wise counsel of the many organisations supporting them. Jackie O'Sullivan, Mencap’s Executive Director of Communications, Advocacy and Activism, reflects on a positive meeting with Department of Health and Social Care colleagues, as sector engagement gets fully underway.
For almost a decade, care home open days have seen care homes all over the country open their doors to families, friends and local communities. This year’s event, which takes place across a week (28 June - 4 July), has particular significance, providing an opportunity to reunite care homes with their local communities, while celebrating the incredible care colleagues who have remained on the frontline throughout the pandemic.
Last month, the Department of Health and Social Care launched an open consultation seeking your views on making vaccination a condition of deployment in older adult care homes, to protect the people most at risk in our communities. The consultation remains open until Friday 21 May 2021. Many of you have contributed, but we still need many more views to help us make the best informed judgment possible for care home staff and residents.
