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Dr Berni Rogers
Dr Shelley Carter
Dr Kate Smeaton
Dr Amanda Betsworth
Dr Lisa Maplesden
Practice Manager Fiona Francis

Littledown Surgery Carers Support

Carers Week 7 - 13 June 2021: Making Caring Visible and Valued

Carers Week 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 year’s theme is Make Caring Visible and Valued.

The role of a family carer has its challenges. The last 16 months have been particularly isolating and exhausting for many. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on carers’ ability to access break. Many carers have been on call all day, with no time to themselves or proper time with family or close friends. Unsurprisingly, many carers are now exhausted and worried about how they will continue to care without increased support.

The Carers Week Breaks or breakdown research report shows the impact of reduced support from both services and family and friends has had on carers’ health and wellbeing. It demonstrates that without the right interventions there could be more carer breakdown and why the UK Government should increase funding for carers’ breaks, so all carers providing significant hours of care have access to a meaningful break.

At Age UK Dacorum, we have kept in contact with many of our unpaid carers with support calls or via online platforms. This year it is important that we mark the incredible work that family, friends and neighbours do as carers. We want to highlight the vital role carers play in our communities and draw attention to just how important caring is.

To find out more about our Carers’ support scheme and what we could do for you, please contact us at 01442 259049 or email [email protected]

Get a Break from Caring

It will help you and the person you care for to stay healthy if you get enough rest and a break from each other now and again. There are local day activities for carers, grants available for short breaks and ways to get a longer break if you need it. There is a subsidised service for replacement care if the person that you care for cannot be left alone.

Telephone the carers team on:
01202 458204

Free Flu Vaccination

Carers are entitled to a free flu vaccination each Autumn, please ask at reception.

Cancer

Do you look after someone with cancer? This leaflet may be of interest to you:

Looking after someone with cancer

***Dorset Care Services Directory***

We have created a New Page where you can view/download the Dorset Care Services Directory. Please navigate here: Directory

Carers Identification Form

Please download and complete the, Carers Identification Form; once completed, please hand the first page to a member of Staff


COVID-19 Carers Information

Please download this leaflet: Primary Care Numbers for Carers

There is a carers group in the practice and we hold coffee mornings at the surgery every couple of months. You will be able to meet other people who are looking after somebody and talk to our carers leads, Angie Chafer or Karen Snell.

**Due to COVID restrictions we are unable to hold our Carers Coffee Mornings, as soon as restrictions are lifted these will resume.**


Carers Coffee Morning

Our next Carers Coffee Morning, the date TBC. Please come along if you look after someone who can’t manage on their own.

Do you help a family member, friend or neighbour who needs support because the person:

  • Is frail
  • Has a long term health condition
  • Has a physical disability
  • Has a learning disability
  • Has a chronic illness
  • Has a mental illness that means they need support to cope
  • Has a substance misuse problem with drugs or alcohol

Your Doctor needs to know if you are caring for someone. You or the person you care for might need extra support for example if you need to go into hospital for your own needs or you are unwell. Carers have extra health risks for example back and neck injuries, stress related conditions, recurrent viral conditions and nutritional problems.

Help and Support

There is help and support if you are a carer, you can speak to someone about caring by telephoning NHS Carers Direct on 0808 802 0202.
Advisors on the service will call you back if necessary. They speak over 100 different languages.

If you need help with practical tasks of caring, telephone Bournemouth Social Services (Care Direct) on 01202 454979. You are entitled to a carers assessment, this is a meeting with a Social Worker who will look at the services you might benefit from to help you.

Join Your Local Carer’s Information Service

This service will send you a regular newsletter about services and support available for carers including those which help you get a break from caring. Many services are free even if you have private funds. You may miss out on things that you are entitled to if you do not join this service, it is free to join.

Telephone the Carers Team on 01202 458204 and ask to join the carers information service, or look on their website (www.bournemouth.gov.uk/SocialCareHealth/Carers/CarersServices.aspx)

You or the Person You Care for May be Entitled to Benefits

Some benefits are not means tested so even if you have private funds you may still be able to claim. Get advice from NHS Carers Direct 0808 802 0202, or ask at your local Citizens Advice Bureau or the Department of Work and Pensions.

Planning Ahead

Plan ahead, so that if you have an emergency or are unwell the person that you care for will be looked after. You can register for the Carer’s in Crisis Service. You need to do this now, rather than when you have an emergency as registration can take 3 to 4 weeks. Once the plan is set up you will have the peace of mind of knowing that help is just a phone call away if you ever need it.

Useful Contact Details:

  • Bournemouth and Poole Carers Team: 01202 458 204
    Ask for: Carers in Crisis Registration Service
    Visit the Bournemouth and Poole Carers Website
  • Littledown Surgery Carers Leads: 01202 309 500
    Angie Chafer and Karen Snell
  • Bournemouth Social Services: 01202 454 979
  • NHS Carers Direct: 0808 802 0202
  • Visit NHS Carers Direct Website
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