City Hospitals Sunderland is committed to raising the profile of carers and has worked with Sunderland Carers’ Centre to develop a Carers’ Charter. The Carers’ Charter recognises the role of carers and the invaluable contribution carers make in supporting patients during their hospital stay/visit, especially in providing information to support assessment and treatment, discharge planning and contributing to care delivery where appropriate.
The Charter:
- makes a commitment to ensure that all front line staff receive carer awareness training and this will be supported by the development of a training programme in 2012.
- is supported by an easy to read flow chart for staff use. The flow chart provides prompts for staff to identify carers and to ensure carers are involved in the patient’s care if this is what the patient and carer would like. The flow chart also identifies actions to take in considering the needs of carers.
- recognises that carers need to be consulted and involved in service reviews and that their views should be represented throughout the organisation.
The Carers’ Charter was officially launched during National Carers’ Week. The launch involved issuing the Charter to all wards and departments (look out for the poster on ward notice boards) and having an awareness-raising stand in Sunderland Royal Hospital on Wednesday 20th June. The stand was manned by staff from the Carers’ Centre, Sunderland Telecare and the hospital who provided information and advice to staff, visitors and patients about what help is available for carers, including information on the Carers’ Emergency Contact Card.
The success of the Carers’ Charter will be monitored by the City Hospitals Carers Group which meets every three months. If you have any comments or experiences you would like to share please contact Eibhlin Inglesby at the Carers’ Centre on (0191) 549 3768.
Copies of the Charter are available on the Carers’ Centre website or by phoning Sarah Candlish on (0191) 5656256 ext 42692.