Your views on out of hours support for carers are needed

7th May 21

The National NHS Commitment to Carers Team, and the East of England Carers Lead are inviting you or to be part of a workshop to explore what carers consider good out-of-hours support / contingency planning guidance to be.

If you look after a family member or friend, they would like to invite you to a workshop on Tuesday 8 June from 2pm-3.30pm or 7.30pm-9pm via Microsoft Teams.

To book your place and time please email: [email protected] or [email protected]

The aims of the workshops are to:

  • Understand gaps in guidance and accessibility for carers of adults
  • Understand what carers of adults know and need
  • Share good practice and future intentions

According to NHS England, ‘out-of-hours’ is from 6.30pm to 8am on weekdays, all day at weekends and on bank holidays.  Different areas have slightly different services available out of hours.

NHS out of hours care includes: 111; local pharmacies; GPs in A&E departments and urgent care centres or walk-in centres; home visits by a health and care professional; and mental health crisis teams.

The National NHS Commitment to Carers Team, and the East of England Carers Lead want to understand, as a carer of someone aged 18 and over:

  • What does out of hours support mean to you?
  • Do you know who to contact out of hours if you need support caring?
  • Who would you contact?
  • Do you have this information easily accessible?
  • Carer contingency planning can be defined as:

Having a plan in place for an unforeseen or unplanned event when a carer, who someone relies upon, is not able to continue caring, so that replacement help, and support can be quickly put in place. An emergency can be as simple as being stuck in traffic with no phone signal and carer being unable to pick the person they care for up from an appointment.

Caring Together and emergency planning

Caring Together can help you with your emergency planning as a carer, including a What If? Plan for if an emergency meant you were unable to carry out your normal caring role.

See caringtogether.org/support-for-carers/adult-carers/emergency-planning