Carers
Who is a carer?
Do you look after
someone who is in one of our hospitals? It may be that
you provide substantial and regular care to a partner,
child, relative, friend or neighbour, who could not manage without
your help. If so you may be termed a carer and could be an
adult caring for a relative with dementia, a young carer who cares
for a parent or sibling or a parent carer of
a disabled child. In all cases there are support organisations
and help that you can access.
View our joint Carer's
Charter with NBT that recognises the vital role carers play
within our hospitals and sets out both trusts' commitment to work
together with carers as expert partners in patients' care.
In hospital
When someone you care for is in
hospital it can be a very worrying and stressful time. When
you're looking after someone, you may feel you have a right to
access information held about them, or that you need the
information to help you care for them.
However, by law we have a duty to protect an individuals
confidentiality. If you want information about a person you care
for then staff may seek the patients approval first.
If the person you care for lacks capacity then staff may apply
The Mental Capacity Act.
If you are a carer of someone with Dementia, please ask our
staff for a
This is Me leaflet. 'This is Me' is a simple and practical tool
for people going into hospital and their carers. It provides a
'snapshot' of the person with dementia and gives hospital
staff information about them as an individual, including the
patients likes, dislikes and interests.
It is important to talk to staff as early as possible if
you are or might become a carer. As a carer you can help staff with
information, and staff can work out what support you might need in
your caring role, as well as the support the patient needs on
discharge.
Carers assessment
As a carer, you should be given an opportunity to talk about
your needs and what help you may need to look after the
patient when they are discharged from hospital. It is
your legal right to have your needs addressed and this is achieved
by having a carers assessment.
An assessment is used to find out what a carers needs are and to
establish whether any help can be provided to meet them.
It is also a good opportunity to talk to somebody about how you
feel about caring. Ask the nurse about how to get an
assessment if you think it may be of benefit.
You can also contact Bristol City Council about an
assessment telephone 0117 922 2700 or email adult.care@bristol.gov.uk
or you can get an assessment through your local carers
centre by calling 0117 939 2562.
Support for carers
Carers Direct offers free, confidential
information and advice for carers. They can be contacted on 0808
802 0202 and lines are open 8.00am to 9.00pm Monday to Friday,
11.00am to 4.00pm at weekends. Carers can also ask for a call back
in more than 170 languages.
Need a listening ear? You don't need to be religious to get help
from our spiritual and pastoral
care team. Having a friend or relative who is ill and in
hospital can be very worrying and you may sometimes find it hard to
balance your needs with theirs.
If you are a carer of someone at the end of life you can access
a FREE course in Bristol . To find out more please contact: Gill
Deacon- Princess Royal Trust for Carers 0117 9589988, gilld@carers-sg.org.uk
Below is a list of Bristol-based carers' organisations
who offer help, support and advice:
Working with carers
We want to work in partnership with carers to ensure we carry
out our role more effectively. We want to listen to what you say so
that we can work more efficiently and improve the experience
of our patients and carers.
We have four Carer Governors in the Trust who would be
happy to hear your views. For more information please go to
the governors'
page.
If you are a carer or staff member/carer and would like to be
involved in how the Trust improves the experience of carers please
contact Michelle Doubtfire via michelled@carers-bs.org.uk
or michelle.doubtfire@UHBristol.nhs.uk
