NHS London has launched a new Carers and Hospital Discharge Toolkit to improve the experiences of carers and the people they care for during the hospital discharge journey.

Designed for London hospitals and community providers in partnership with Carers UK, Mobilise, Carers First, Carers Trust and the London Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), the co-produced resource provides action-orientated top tips to better support Londoners when someone they care for is being discharged from hospital.

A carer is anyone who provides help to a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, a mental health problem or an addiction and cannot cope without their support.

2021 census data revealed there are almost 600,000 Londoners providing unpaid care in the capital. Where unpaid carers of patients are identified, recognised and involved in discharge planning, re-admissions to hospital are reduced, patient outcomes improved and carers wellbeing sustained.

With this in mind, almost 400 London carers, NHS and care sector professionals have contributed to the development of the Carers and Hospital Discharge toolkit, highlighting tried and tested best practice measures and providing a basis for operationalising the new hospital discharge and community support guidance and supporting information for Integrated Care Systems on virtual wards.

“In recognising carers’ rights, roles and responsibilities, the Health and Care Act has formalised the spirit of co-production and personalised care with and not only for carers and those they support – and this resource pack illustrates how we can make best use of these new opportunities.”

Dame Philippa Russell DBE

See the NHS announcement at NHS London – Carers and hospital discharge.

Also see the Carers Trust announcement at Carers and Hospital Discharge Toolkit for London Hospitals and Community Providers – Resources – Carers Trust

Make Time for Young Carers – Carers Trust are looking for young and young adult carer stories!

Carers Trust would love to hear about what this means to you – tell us about your caring role, why it is important to make time for young carers (or what you do to make time for yourself!), and what would support you to have good health and well-being.

Your story could be in the form of a blog, video, infographics, artwork, photo, poem, song – any format or media you feel most comfortable with. Carers Trust can provide support if you want to get involved but are a bit stuck for ideas.

Created content will be shared on the Carers Trust YCAD webpage and social media in the run up to YCAD to help generate campaign buzz.

Why was this theme chosen?

Over the past few months Carers Trust have chatted with hundreds of young carers at festivals in Hampshire, Wales and Scotland.  The one issue that kept coming up was just how important their health and wellbeing is to them.

Carers Trust know it’s easy for young carers to start feeling overwhelmed because of everything they need to do for their caring role on top of all their schoolwork and revising for exams. What young carers told us was that it doesn’t need to be this way. They think the things that would make them feel less overwhelmed, healthier and happier are:

• improved support in schools
• more access to breaks,
• better access to counselling support
• and more financial support.

But what does ‘Make Time for Young Carers’ really mean?

‘Make Time for Young Carers’ highlights two things that are really important for young carers:

• the need for professionals and responsible adults to make more time to listen to young carers explain the challenges they face as young carers, so they can better understand the support young carers actually need.
• Once they understand the sort of support that’s required, responsible adults then need to make time to put that support in place.