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.
The National Care Forum, Rights for Residents and other partners have developed a set of resources, designed to provide practical support to care home staff, residents and visitors observing the current care home visiting guidance.
Partners in Care includes a growing suite of resources including a visiting charter and pledge, setting out shared rights, responsibilities and commitments all parties can sign up to. Download the resources and feel free to personalise them with - and for - the people and partners you work alongside and support.
"At the start of lockdown, there was a great deal of uncertainty for young adult carers about the rules, how we can keep loved ones safe and the impact restrictions would have on our everyday lives. In April 2020, the Department for Health and Social Care asked us to join a consultation process to help create guidance for those aged 16-25 with caring responsibilities." Chloe Rollings, young adult carer.
"Today, on Young Carers Action Day, it's more important than ever to acknowledge how difficult the last year has been. It’s not in doubt everyone has had their life altered by the events of recent months, but some have been affected more than others." The Children's Society's Melissa Moody reflects on the past 12 months and her part in helping to shape new guidance for young carers like herself.
"A year on from the last International Women’s Day and the mantra of ‘trying to have it all’ has truly taken on a whole new meaning" for Fatima Khan Shah Programme Director of Unpaid Carers and Personalised Care in West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership.
In this searingly honest blog, Fatima reflects on caring for loved ones with long term conditions, looking after children and balancing all the difficulties that come with managing complex home lives.
Three effective COVID-19 vaccines are now approved for use in the UK. With their approval, and the rapid expansion of vaccination sites across the country, the national NHS COVID-19 Vaccination Programme is progressing at pace to reach the most vulnerable, working in line with the priorities set by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). It is a testament to the importance of the work of health and social care staff that they have been prioritised by the JCVI to receive vaccination.