Carers

Are you a carer? - Do you care for a relative or friend?

Ask at reception about our information file and where to get help. Please also give us your name as there are ways we can support you (see information below).

Carers Support Policy

If you are a carer, you might find it difficult to access our services without extra support.

If you identify yourself as a carer, our staff will try to offer you:

1. Home visits and/or telephone appointments if caring responsibilities mean you cannot leave the person you care for at home or bring them with you to the surgery.
2. Flexibility or priority on appointment times where possible.
3. Support for the person you care for in the waiting room or a private area if you need to bring them to the surgery but would like an appointment in private.
4. Information about local carers support services which may be able to arrange transport and/or sitting services to help you leave home to attend surgery.
5. Telephone ordering for prescriptions where possible.
6. An annual health check and a flu jab.
7. Information about your right to a Carers’ Assessment of your own needs as a carer.
8. Advice on safer lifting and other aspects of providing care such as medication.
9. Discussing with you what you would like us to do in the event of you or the person you care for having a medical or other emergency.

In some cases caring roles are full time and very demanding. We would like to support you in your caring role where we can. We will avoid making assumptions about the amount of care you wish to take on.
Caring should not be at the expense of your own health and wellbeing. Please tell us how your caring role is affecting you and if you have any support needs.

We will try to help you by:

• Respecting your privacy and confidentiality and conducting conversations of a personal nature in private.
• Discussing the benefits of appropriate information sharing with patients who need or may in future need care from a relative or friend.
• Providing you with information about the condition and needs of the person you care for, such as the effects of medication, where that person gives consent.
• Always listening to and respecting the information you give us about your caring role and the needs of the person you care for.
• Providing you with general information about health conditions when you ask for it when we do not have consent from the person you care for to share their personal information.

If you’re a Carer who helps and supports someone who can’t manage on their own, we want to ensure you get all the support you need.

To be able to do this, we need to know certain facts about your caring situation, as listed in the form. Please download the form (PDF, 249KB).

Please complete this form and return it to our Reception team.

If you are agreeable, we will pass your details to the Carers Service, a countywide organisation providing relevant information and advice, local support services, newsletter and telephone linkline for carers.
With your permission, we will also refer you to have your needs assessed by Adult Care Services. This is called a Carers’ Needs Assessment.

This is your chance to discuss your role as a Carer and what help you may need to:

• Support you as a Carer
• Maintain your own health
• Balance caring with other aspects of your life, like work and family, looking at both your current and future needs.

It’s not about judging the way you are caring for someone, nor should social services assume that you wish to become, or carry on being, a carer.

As a result of completing the Assessment, the local authority may provide services to help you in your caring role or to maintain your own health and well-being.

It can also look at the needs of the person you care for. This could be done separately, or together, depending on the situation.

Carers support groups

North Staffs Carers Association

Information and support for carers in the local area.

There is a very useful website 'Staffordshire Connect' that covers children, families and care leavers. Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Local Offer. Adults and communities and Care Market Development. https://www.staffordshireconnects.info/kb5/staffordshire/directory/home.page

Carers Information

View the NHS social care and support guide here

Money, work, benefits and social care

How to pay for care and support, and where you can get help with costs.

Making decisions for someone else

Includes powers of attorney and mental capacity