Do you know what would happen if you were suddenly unable to provide care?
Whilst this may be something you haven’t really thought about, or find stressful to even contemplate, we recommend documenting how you and the person you care for would want their care to be provided, if the current caring situation had to change, for a short or long period.
As a Carer it is important to put together an emergency / contingency plan in case something happens and you may not be able to support the person you care for.
We have a template you can use to do this (you can download it from the buttons).
To create your Emergency Plan, you will need to know:
If you would like help filling in your Emergency Plan, please get in touch with Enfield Carers Centre on 020 8366 3677 or contact us.
PLEASE DO NOT RETURN THIS FORM TO ENFIELD CARERS CENTRE.
KEEP IT IN A SAFE PLACE AND SHARE IT WITH ANY OF YOUR EMERGENCY CONTACTS.
You should tell your GP have an Emergency Care plan at home.
We have a template letter to tell your GP that you are a Carer.
If you want to download and edit the letter to your GP, click here.
To complete the letter before sending, you will need:
We encourage Carers to let their GP know that they are caring for someone who depends on them.
This is vitally important because if the GP knows about your caring responsibilities they can offer additional support to help you to maintain your physical health and emotional wellbeing, such as offering vaccinations and referring on to specialist services if you need them.
They can also record your emergency (or contingency) plan to ensure the continued care of your loved one should you become unwell.
A good contingency plan would include details about key people that might play a role in future; such as family members so professionals who have power of attorney or who might be taking over elements of care, or advocating on the cared for’s behalf are fully informed.
It would also be beneficial to consider any personal information that you would know, but which may not be obvious to someone meeting the person you care for, for the first time. Such as:
Even, a personal history, that would allow someone who has never met them before, to learn about them as an individual.
The advantages of taking the time to do this are that it will provide some reassurance that your joint wishes/preferences can be considered in any future care planning, and accommodated wherever this is possible. It is especially important where you’re looking after someone who may struggle to communicate without your help.
It would allow health and social professionals, or advocates, to have better insight not only in regard to what care is needed but, more importantly, how this care should preferably be delivered.
On a more personal level, it may even reduce the amount of guesswork that family members have to use when trying to determine what the cared for would have wanted, sadly, in stressful situations uncertainty may even lead to family disputes.
One of the Centre’s team, Danny Newland, recently spoke about why he feels contingency planning is so important. He discussed his father and what he learnt, both as an independent advocate but also as a family member, when his mother was suddenly unable to provide care.
The Centre is currently working with the Learning Disability Partnership Board, and CAPE to create a contingency document that will sit within social care support plans, of both carers and service users. We will update you on the progress of this now next newsletter. In the meantime, if you have any questions about contingency planning you can email casmanager@enfieldcarers.org
