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Support for carers

Carers give unpaid support to family and friends of any age who need help because of frailty, illness, disability, mental health conditions or addictions. That friend or family member can’t cope without your support, whether that’s help with washing, feeding and dressing, making sure they take medication correctly or taking them to regular appointments.

We recognise and deeply value the vital role that families, friends, and neighbours play in supporting our patients, before they come into hospital and as they prepare to return home.

Our commitment to you

We work in partnership with you, involving you throughout your family member or friend’s hospital journey. By doing so, we promote their health, wellbeing and independence.

Our carer’s strategy reflects this commitment and outlines how we support carers as essential partners in care. Carer representatives also contribute their voices to several of our Trust committees and groups, helping to shape decisions at a strategic level and ensuring that the needs of carers are heard and respected.

What support and help can I get?

Caring for someone can feel overwhelming and exhausting, and it’s important that you get access to the right support and help.

Carer’s assessment

You may be eligible for support from your local authority. You can complete a carers assessment which may mean you’re eligible for financial support or your own level of support, including advice on how to help with your caring responsibilities.

Advice and support from Carers Bucks

Carers Bucks works in partnership with the Trust to help you when a family member or friend goes into hospital. Their staff will give practical advice and emotional support, and talk through your concerns, as well as our hospital staff to make sure you get the information you need.

They’ll explain the discharge process and how to arrange continuing care in the community.

As your caring role may change over time, Carers Bucks’ support continues as your situation unfolds. Even after a hospital stay you can benefit from their services.

If you’re aged between 5 and 16, and you care for a family member who is ill or has a disability, you can get support from Young Carers Bucks. They’ll help you to get registered as a carer, and get access to supporting activities.

Carer’s passport

We’ve introduced a carer’s passport, which recognises and helps support you as a carer of someone who’s in hospital.

Find out more about our carer’s passport and how you can be fully involved in your loved one’s care.

Spiritual, religious, and pastoral care

Being in hospital can be difficult and stressful for patients and carers. It can be emotionally and spiritually unsettling, making it harder to cope with illness or injury. Our chaplaincy team can support you or the person you care for by providing spiritual, pastoral, and religious support, whether you have a religious belief or not.

Free flu vaccinations for carers

Carers in receipt of carer’s allowance and main carers of an elderly or disabled person, whose welfare may be at risk if the carer falls ill, are eligible to receive a free flu vaccination from the NHS.

Find out more about who is eligible to have the vaccine.

Advice and support from Buckinghamshire Council

This includes practical support such as getting equipment to help someone in the home and financial support for a carer to looking after your own wellbeing.

Visit their website to find out more.

What rights do I have as a carer?

The Care Act 2014 places a legal duty on local authorities and health partners like the NHS to recognise, assess, and support carers. This legally entitles all adult carers to a carer assessment regardless of the level of support you give someone.

Young carers

Young unpaid carers in the UK, those under 18 who provide care for a family member or friend, have specific rights under the Children and Families Act 2014, the Children Act 1989, and the Care Act 2014. These laws ensure that young carers are supported and not disadvantaged by their caring responsibilities.

Caring and working

It can be very challenging combining work with caring. The Work and Families Act 2006 gives carers the right to request flexible working. This can include flexible working arrangements, changing shifts to suit caring commitments, compressed hours (working agreed hours over fewer days or shifts), job shares or working from home.

Practical advice

If you’re concerned about the memory, mood or behaviour of a person this will be clinically assessed. Referrals to the memory clinic may take up to a year to get an appointment.

Talk to Carer’s Bucks to find out more.

If you need help to co-ordinate care options, you can find out more about brokerage services in relation to social care. A broker will help you source the best support solutions for the person you’re caring for, and you could get funding as a personal budget so you can buy your own services and support.

You can also get advice from various national organisations including:

Feedback

There are many ways to give feedback about our carer processes within the Trust.

You can:

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