Every day, thousands of people in Staffordshire support an ill, frail or disabled family member, friend or partner. For most carers the experience of looking after someone close is rewarding, and many carers manage with help from their friends and communities. Some might need some extra help, and turn to Staffordshire County Council or the NHS for advice and support.
The aim of this strategy is to allow us to build on our continuing efforts to ensure carers can lead happier, healthier and more independent lives, whilst continuing to care for their loved ones. We shall seek to further strengthen our relationship with carers, communities and the organisations that support them, working collaboratively to empower communities, prevent, reduce and delay the needs of carers, and create a culture of genuine respect, trust and community collaboration.
We recognise that carer support needs to be localised where possible, within strong, inclusive communities, delivered in a way that helps carers to be happy and healthy. By working together with carers and key organisations, we can ensure we are taking a ‘whole systems approach’ to supporting carers in Staffordshire. We will achieve this by strengthening the current pathway and reviewing our commissioned arrangements to ensure they are fit and appropriate for the future.
We want to further strengthen the support that carers access, making information and advice readily available to them, and responding to their needs earlier and in a more comprehensive way. We shall seek to work with communities and organisations with which carers come into contact, educating them on the valuable role carers play and encouraging support from carers’ own networks. We will promote opportunities for carers to gain assistance in their role without the need to rely on services themselves.
We will also increase efforts to identify carers who do not currently know what is available to support them, enabling them to access support and reducing their risk of carer breakdown. Carers make a tremendous contribution to their families, communities, workplace and society. It is important that we continue to recognise and value this contribution, and that we work “all together for carers” in the future.
- Alan White - Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Health, Care and Wellbeing
- Dr Alison Bradley - Co-Chair of the Staffordshire Health and Wellbeing Board
- Mark Sutton - Cabinet Member for Children and Young People