Based at the 3 major hospitals in Suffolk, – Ipswich, West Suffolk and James Paget the Suffolk Family Carers Family Carer Advisors (Hospital’s) team work closely with hospital staff and family carers with a primary focus on identifying and supporting family carers.
The team is currently made up of 4 advisers – Emma Jones (JPUH), Mandy King (Ips), Sarah Hazlewood (Ips) & Rachel Johnson (WSH) Direct contact details for each advisor can be found in the hospital specific contact directory or on the Suffolk Family Carers website. Alternatively please email us on hello@suffolkfamilycarers.org or call 01473 835477.
Support for Hospital staff
The team provided a range of tools to help hospital staff recognise family carers. This ensures the family carer receives the support they need during what may be a stressful and emotional time for them. These tools include;
- Liaising with ward/clinical staff, social workers & the discharge hub when required. This helps to ensure the Family Carer understands what is being said to them and that hospital staff have all information on the person being cared for, based on family carer’s past and present caring role
- Recruiting Family Carer Champions on hospital wards and providing them with a full days training to help them identify family carers
- Facilitating bite size training to aid family carer identification. The training is available either in person or virtually.
- Delivering short presentations at training days
- Attending outside group meetings
- Regularly updating hospital communication platforms.
- Providing support for hospital staff who may themselves be family carers
Support for Family Carers
- Providing an opportunity for family carer to discuss their caring role, past and present.
- Helping the family carer understand hospital processes.
- Helping clarify and reinforce information provided by hospital staff – processing information can be daunting for the family carer and may require more than one conversation.
- Liaising with ward/clinical staff, social workers & the discharge hub when required. This ensure hospital staff have all information on the person being cared for, based on family experiences from their caring role
- Ensuring a record of family carer’s concerns are entered on digital records where applicable.
- Making direct referrals to internal and external agencies, e.g. Customer First
- Signposting to relevant services, condition specific organisations etc.
- Applying for grants that may be available.
- Holding conversations about contingency planning (FCEP) & completing if the family carer is in agreement.
- Ensuring Hospital family carer packs have been issued and aware of concessions & information.
- Ongoing support following discharge or bereavement.
- Supporting Family Carers across borders.
- Ensuring the family carer feels they are ready and able to continue their caring role, taking into consideration any changes in medication, the need for equipment, the needs of the patient (e.g. dietary requirements), details of care package and transport. This ensures the family carer feels valued as an integral part to a successful discharge.
- Providing access to emotional support through their hospital journey
The support provided may span several days to several months, depending on the individual family carer’s circumstance including, the length of stay in hospital, if the patient is transferred to a rehab or an interim 28 day placement for further discharge planning and the final post discharge check.
