This week the winners of the ‘System Led Support for Carers’ award will be announced at the Health Service Journal (HSJ) Awards ceremony and we are delighted to have been shortlisted for this award.
We are delighted to have been shortlisted as a finalist for our work to create carer-friendly communities for young carers in Norfolk and beyond.
Through the Norfolk Young Carers Forum project, young carers as young as five years old, and young adult carers, were consistently highlighting the impact of caring on their health. They said there was not enough awareness of, or support for, young carers among health organisations across the county. We have been supporting the young carers to change this, working with health and social care organisations across Norfolk to help ensure young carers are identified and supported.
Despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have managed to reach over 700 health and social care staff in the past two years, and over 19,000 young people and education professionals across Norfolk, including delivering awareness-raising sessions and supporting organisations to be more carer-friendly through our Carer Friendly Tick Award.
The HSJ received over 1000 entries across 23 categories with 205 organisations, projects and individuals making it to the final shortlist. We are one of only six organisations who are finalists in our category.
A prestigious panel of judges from across the health and social care sector selected our young carers work for its ambition, visionary spirit and demonstrable positive impact that the project has had.
Andy McGowan, head of carer services at Caring Together said, “We are looking forward to attending the awards ceremony this week and for the recognition of the efforts of our colleagues both within Caring Together, from partner organisations and of course young carers and young adult carers themselves have been given in being shortlisted for the ‘System Led Support for Carers’ award.
“Knowing that there was such stiff competition this year really does make reaching the finals a wonderful achievement for everyone involved. It is also very encouraging to see others on the shortlist and to know there are other likeminded people across the country also working hard and seeing success in changing the support available for carers.
“The fact that we are finalists reflects the valuable progress that has been made towards the aim of making Norfolk, and all communities, a truly carer-friendly community and ensuring that no young carer goes unidentified or unsupported.”
The full list of nominees for the HSJ Awards 2021 can be found on https://awards.hsj.co.uk/shortlist-2021.
The selected winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at Evolution, London on 18 November 2021
About the HSJ Awards
The most coveted accolade in UK healthcare, the HSJ awards is the largest annual benchmarking and recognition programme for the health sector. Over the last 40 years the awards have been celebrating healthcare excellence through huge political, technological and financial challenges within the sector. Through a rigorous, fair and transparent judging process the awards produce a roll call of the best organisations, teams and people in the NHS and the wider health sector.
