Carers Week 2023 | News and Events

Carers Week (5-11 June) is an annual campaign to raise awareness of caring, highlight the challenges unpaid carers face and recognise the contribution they make to families and communities throughout the UK. It also helps people who don’t think of themselves as having caring responsibilities to identify as carers and access much-needed support. This Carers Week, we’re sharing how we support and work with Carers to deliver the best care possible for our service users.

GMMH is a proud member of the Triangle of Care, a nationally led scheme by the Carers Trust. It brings together many years of research with carers into what they feel will benefit them when involved with mental health services. It is based on six principles that mental health trusts can use to include and support carers. Learn more about it here: The Triangle of Care | Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT (gmmh.nhs.uk)

Our Mental Health Carers Handbook is a really useful place to start if supporting somebody with their mental health. Find this and other written resources here: Carer booklets, leaflets and more | Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS FT (gmmh.nhs.uk)

Find out more about carers work across the Trust under the headings below:

• The Carers Agenda in Wigan
• Learning from Carers Lived Experience
• Recognising and Supporting Carers in Bolton
• Recognising and Supporting Carers in Salford
• Our Care Matters – Supporting the service user and carer voice
• The Carers Agenda in Adult Forensic Services (AFS)

 

The Carers Agenda in Wigan

At the height of the Coronavirus pandemic, it was thought that 1 in 4 adults in the UK was caring for somebody, and carers were saving the UK economy £193 Billion per year.

And now, after three years caring through the pandemic, we find ourselves in a cost-of-living crisis. Where many have to reduce their working hours or give up employment completely, this is causing additional worry for carers, who potentially would have already been dealing with the financial difficulties that often come with caring.

Carers may need support to realise that they are in a caring role, to have their concerns acknowledged and be given useful information and the support they need to continue caring safely. 

The last few months have seen our Wigan division really embrace the Carers Agenda across services. We spoke to Charlotte Stowell, Operational Manager from the division to find out more…

“We know that often, family and friends don’t recognise themselves as carers, seeing themselves as wives, husbands, parents, siblings, children or friends of people who require support from mental health services. As professionals, we couldn’t do what we do without the support of carers and the vital role they play in our community and the care of people who access our services. In Wigan, we recognise the key role that our staff play in helping people who access our services, and those supporting them, to understand how important the caring role is.

Over the last few months, we have facilitated two Carers Engagement Training Sessions to all our Inpatient, Urgent Care and Community Mental Health Teams. We have trained over 70 staff to identify carers, to ensure that carers have access to information about being a carer and support carers to access a carer’s assessment with the Wigan and Leigh Carer’s Centre. Due to the popularity of this training opportunity, we have plans in place for further sessions to capture more of the staff teams. 

We have recently rolled out carer information leaflets across various services, including our inpatient wards, urgent care services and community mental health services, including bespoke leaflets and carer’s information packs for our specialist services.

We have also identified passionate and caring ‘Carer Champions’ across all our mental health services in Wigan, with some bringing their own experience of being a carer into this role too. To bring our Champions together, we have developed a Wigan Carer’s Champion Forum for the Champions to share learning and experience, link in with local carer support services and access additional training to support them in this role. Our first forum meeting is planned for June 2023, and is the perfect opportunity to recognise and support our carers in Wigan during Carers Week 2023!

In our Early Intervention service, we listen to the valued feedback we receive from our carers, at any stage in the service user’s journey. Recently, our carers asked for some support from the service aimed specifically at carers caring for someone experiencing a first episode of psychosis. Our Occupational Therapist, Rebecca Banks and Assistant Psychologist, Issy Richardson, set up an evening carers group offering six weekly sessions at St Peter’s Pavilion in Hindley. Whilst these sessions were facilitated by our practitioners, the content was led by carers in terms of what would be helpful for them. We invited guest speakers from the service, including Dr Divakar, Consultant Psychiatrist, to talk about commonly prescribed medication for a person experiencing a psychotic episode; Cyd Ross, our CBT practitioner also offered a session to complement our psychosocial interventions week, and Dr Waj spent time answering questions on all things ‘psychosis’. We were also joined by our collaborative partners from ‘We Are With You’ and ‘Wigan and Leigh Carer’s Centre’.

The group was very well received, with a carer sharing they felt ‘valued and less isolated’. Another said what they found helpful was ‘meeting other people in the same situation as myself, understanding how to manage the situation’. Our expert by experience, and her carer, also attended to share their story which was well received by the group and highlights the importance of both peer support and carer support when caring for people who experience a first episode of psychosis. There was a resounding request for the group to continue so watch this space for the evolution of the Early Intervention carers group going forward!”

 

Learning from Carers Lived Experience

The carers, family and friends of those we support have told us that understanding and compassion from our staff makes such a difference to their journey. Because so many carers don’t realise that their role has a name, it is vital that our staff are skilled at identifying those involved in a caring role and can have discussions to enable these people to identify themselves as carers. We need to offer/signpost carers to support in their own right and involve carers in the care and treatment of the service user where possible.

The last 12 months has seen the launch of our Carers Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), outlining expectations of staff to identify, support, involve and record carers information correctly.

The experiences of a number of our carers across the Trust were used to inform the Carers SOP which includes our services responsibilities to carers under The Care Act, details of the resources we have available to support staff move this work forward as well as detailed information on how to record all carer related activity on our electronic recording system (PARIS). It ensures staff have the tools available to be able to identify carers at various stages throughout treatment, gives guidance to staff on consent and sharing information with carers, expectations around carers assessments and tools to support carers being involved in care.

To coincide with the Carers SOP, two carers training programmes have been developed with input from carers across the Trust.

Our Carers Engagement Training is available to staff working across every division within the Trust and is co-facilitated between Neil Grace, our Lead for Service User and Carer Engagement, and the Systems Team.

The training includes:

• Learning from real GMMH carer stories
• The importance of identifying carers
• Carers & confidentiality guidance
• The benefits of giving information to carers
• Carers assessments
• The benefits of involving carers in care
• Carer resources & local support available
• How to record all carer related activity on our electronic recording system (PARIS -  delivered by the Systems Team)

The second session available is our Working in a Family Informed Way Training, a skills-based session that supports staff to develop the tools to identify, support and involve carers.

Over the course of a full day, staff consider the impact of caring on the carer and the information and support that carers would benefit from. The skills-based part of the session introduces staff to a Carers Toolkit (mapping-based interventions) which looks at coping strategies, social networks and forward planning.to support positive experiences for carers and the people they support.

For further details on any of these sessions, please contact neil.grace@gmmh.nhs.uk

 

Recognising and Supporting Carers in Bolton

Making Space are a National Charity who have dedicated carer support available for our GMMH carers across Bolton. They have provided carers across the division with support for the last 13 years and specifically support carers in the area who are impacted by the mental health of the person they support.

Two dedicated Carer Support Workers are in place to support carers of somebody accessing GMMH’s services.

• Sam supports carers with relatives accessing support through The Rivington Unit
• Saf is on hand to support carers with relatives accessing community mental health services in Bolton

We spoke to Sam for some additional information…

“Whilst we receive a number of referrals each month, we do welcome new referrals from wider services as long as the person cared for is looked after by a GMMH service. 

It’s our job to make sure that their efforts are recognised by those that matter, and that positive steps are taken to enhance, prioritise and protect the carers wellbeing.  Support is offered to carers to promote their health and wellbeing as well as giving advice on how to stay healthy. We offer a wide range of support starting with an assessment of the needs of the carer. We spend time getting to know our carers so that the care we provide is catered to their needs. 

The support we can provide includes:

• 121 support with a named worker
• focussed work around the concerns of the carer
• help with any complex needs of the person the carer supports
• advocating for carers - someone to speak on the carer's behalf. We are there for them
• Identifying the services that carers and the cared for may need
• we provide information on mental health conditions and services that may be useful
• Signposting to other services (inc. advice for welfare benefits or housing) 

In addition to the above, we run monthly carer coffee mornings and run an arts and crafts group. These are proving really popular and so booking is advisable! 

New referrals to Making Space Carers Support can be made by contacting us on:

Tel: 079807 05525

Email: enquiries@makingspace.co.uk

Our community mental health teams across Bolton also have carer support roles on hand to support the carer, whether this is supporting them through their carers assessment or to access peer support from other carers via regular walking groups and yoga sessions for carers."

 

Recognising and Supporting Carers in Salford

The theme for Carers Week 2023 is ‘Recognising and supporting carers in the community’. This Carers Week, we want communities across the UK to come together to recognise the huge contribution unpaid carers make to society. (Carers UK)

The last few months have seen Carers Education Sessions set up for carers supporting somebody through an inpatient admission at our Meadowbrook Unit in Salford. We spoke to Frances Reekie, Deputy Matron for Meadowbrook, to find out more…

“We wanted to provide carers with an opportunity to ask questions and access information from people who specialise or have a particular interest in different areas of mental health. We wanted to offer a space where carers were able to feel informed and included as we know that often consent can be in issue across our Inpatient settings. This platform enables carers and mental health professionals to meet and share information without going into the specifics of an individual’s care.

Carers are being contacted and sent information about this offer through ward rounds, admission communications, posters and leaflets around the unit as well as through word of mouth from staff and other carers. Carers who have attended these sessions have responded positively and so we’re hoping for good engagement in our upcoming June session.

Anyone who is a carer of someone who is currently or who has recently been an inpatient at Meadowbrook may attend. On the day, come to Meadowbrook Reception and myself and the sessions co-facilitator will meet you there. "

In addition to this, the Meadowbrook Unit have recently rolled out the use of a Carers Care Plan to support carer involvement in care…

“We developed the carers care plans following a review of carer complaints where a common theme around carers not feeling included in the care of their loved one emerged. The carer care plan enables us to fully engage in the triangle of care by creating a platform where all parties can understand what each other wants/expects to be communicated, how that will happen, when and by whom. It also creates a resource for staff to quickly find out who they can share information with and how much they can share without having to repeatedly ask the service user and cause unnecessary frustration for the carer.”

 

Our Care Matters – Supporting the service user and carer voice

The Our Care Matters Forum in Manchester has seen service users and carers coming together from across our Manchester services to discuss their experience of care with key GMMH staff. The monthly carer led forum is co-chaired by Helen Rogers who, until recently has been the carer for her daughter who is now becoming more independent alongside Pete Smith, Service Manager. The forum is keen to build on their work and to attract more service users and carers to get involved. Further details in the below…

For further information on getting involved, please contact Helen on 07897 413 182 / chair.ourcarematters@outlook.com

The Our Care Matters Forum has also been supporting carer involvement in our Living Well programme, our Manchester Living Well collaboratives have been working with carers in Manchester to ensure the voice of carers informs service delivery.

We spoke to Aron Moss, Operational Programme Manager for Living Well, for further information…

”…our Carers Living Well forum came out of a request from carers attending our Living Well Collaboratives for a space specifically focused on the needs and views of carers. So far, we’ve held two sessions that have been attended by carers and charities that are supporting carers (i.e. connect support, IMHN, Gaddum, Our Care Matters, etc) – it is the ambition of the Carers Living Well group to have an independent forum to support the development of the carer role in the living well service, by identifying from their experiences what has worked and what hasn’t. They are also looking to identify a carer who could contribute and influence the strategic overview of Living Well at the Manchester planning group.”

 

 

The Carers Agenda in Adult Forensic Services (AFS)

Our Adult Forensic Services (AFS) and Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) hold a Carers Online Support Group each month where all carers who are a part of the service are invited to attend. 

The session aims to provide peer support from those with lived experience as Carers who have/had loved ones be a part of the Forensic Mental Health System or CAMHS.  It can be a really good place to know that there is hope in what can feel a hopeless situation at times.  We also provide support to any individual at the sessions, and can link in with clinical teams where this is required.

In addition to this, AFS are involving Carers in their service development work, and adverts will be going out soon for Carers to join the Senior Leadership Meetings each month and be a part of the Senior Leadership Team.

We would like to thank all of our carers at AFS for their continued support during what has been a very difficult time over the last few years with the Covid Pandemic and also over recent months since the Panorama programme.  We appreciate that we have work to do to re-build Carers trust in ourselves, but we want to work with them and we value their input into our care and treatment of our service users, as well as the development of AFS moving forward.