We are delighted that two teams from Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge have achieved our Carer Friendly Tick Award – Health this summer. The Outpatients department and the Dementia Care team join over 40 other health organisations and teams across Cambridgeshire and Norfolk in achieving this recognition of their awareness, understanding and support for carers.
Clare Hawkins, Head of Nursing Patient Experience and Engagement at Addenbrooke’s Hospital told us,
“We are delighted to receive this award which demonstrates a commitment to actively engage and listen to our patients and their carers, ensuring they feel supported and that care is individualised and unique to their needs.”
Catherine Pride, Dementia Specialist Nurse said, “We are so very happy as a team. Many thanks for your recognition of our work and we are proud to be affiliated with your charity and all that you provide for our Trust.”
Georgina Baldwin, Deputy Matron in the Outpatients department told us how having the award has helped them develop support within their staff team as well as supporting carers coming into their department.
“We are delighted to have been awarded the Carer Friendly Tick Award – Health for the third time running. The application process was useful to help identify areas of improvement and help shape our areas of focus.
“Furthermore, awareness was raised through the award and staff education and training. As a result, we began to understand how to support and signpost our staff who are also carers too.”
Caring Together Charity assessors highlighted how support for carers has developed over the years that the Outpatients department has achieved the award, “It’s great that there are lots of carers’ champions, meaning the influence has been spread across the trust and not just limited to the department.”
They also commented on how visibly carers are considered, recognised and supported, whether through signposting, help with accessibility, a carers checklist or other means, all of which demonstrate their caring ethos.
At Caring Together Charity, we feel privileged to be helping wonderful teams like these to find ways to support carers in their workplace and to be able to recognise them for this dedication and enthusiasm through the Carer Friendly Tick Award.
If you would like to join these teams on our Carer Friendly Tick Award hall of fame, or want to find out more about our carer awareness training or how your organisation can support carers, please visit caringtogether.org/carer-friendly-tick or email us at [email protected]
