Caring for the carers

Published by Oliver Kinbrum for Sanctuary Housing Association in Health and also in Housing

As a growing number of people are supporting friends and family with long-term neurological conditions, leading supported housing provider Sanctuary Carr-Gomm (SCG) is on hand to offer support to those carers at a Middlesbrough hospital thanks to a new partnership arrangement with NHS Tees and Middlesbrough Council’s Department of Social Care.

Starting last week, support worker Lisa Davey from SCG is available in the neurosciences outpatient department of The James Cook University Hospital, in Middlesbrough, to offer advice, information and support to the carers of patients with long-term neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s disease, cerebral palsy or motor neurone disease.

Carers will not only receive support on how to best meet the needs of the person they care for, but also on how to ensure their own needs are met. This will include advice on getting a Carers Emergency Card, maximising income, referral to specialist agencies, access to education, training and employment, carers assessments and support services.

Lisa will be at the hospital from 9.00am – 5.00pm on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays.

Local outreach services manager for SCG, Wendy Collins said: “We are really pleased to be able to offer this service within The James Cook University Hospital. This is the first partnership of its kind between SCG and a local hospital, we aim to make this service very successful and I hope we will be able to secure funding to expand it further.”

Sharon Poskitt, senior nurse for neurosciences at The James Cook University Hospital said: “We welcome the opportunity to work with colleagues from Sanctuary Carr-Gomm and Middlesbrough Social Care Department in the development of this service. Addressing the needs of carers is very important for them as individuals but also for the loved ones they care for. I’m sure Lisa will be an asset to our team”

The post is funded by an NHS ‘Supporting Self Management of Long Term Neurological Conditions’ grant which will cover the position for the next two years.