Carers

 

---

The Involvement, Experience and Volunteering team takes a strategic lead on co-ordinating the Trust approach to supporting, involving, and communicating with carers through updates and connection into the carers Hub and as part of the Carers Strategy implementation group hosted by Nottinghamshire County Council. 

In February 2025, we hosted a Carers Listening event with 130 Carers, Families, Friends of our patients and staff team representative to listen, to talk about and to learn together on how we co-develop safe, inclusive and person-centred care for everyone at Nottinghamshire Healthcare.    

 'Welcoming event, kind professional people at the first point of contact at the event' 

'I feel people were listened to and my concerns were listened to'

The event was designed to focus on building a partnership to deliver better understanding and outcomes on the issues that are most important to carers and families and was also an opportunity to spotlight the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework which will enable a drive to inclusive practice within the Trust.  Time was taken to share some examples of great practice of working with carers from across Nottingham and Nottinghamshire. 

 Attendees who completed the event evaluation revealed the following:

• 83% strongly agreed/ agreed that they felt listened to, heard and valued.
• 100% strongly agreed / agreed the event was useful in providing information on the commitments of Notts Healthcare Trust to carers and families.
• 100% strongly agreed/ agreed that the Information on the Patient and Carer Race Equality Framework was insightful and gave a good knowledge base.

The priorities for action following the event are:

• To engage and support Carers and Families in all our services to enable us to provide safe, high-quality services for every individual in our care, and their loved ones. 
• To enhance our organisational culture to be Carer and Family aware, enabling improvements in what we do with Carers and Families as the driving force.

These will be measured and delivered through the Carers Action Plan, focused on: 

1. 1. Work in partnership  with carers and families in the care and decisions relating to their loved ones
   2. Listen and communicate with carers & families in an accessible, consistent, and friendly manner
   3. Support carers and families to ensure they can access help to maintain their own health and wellbeing
   4. Develop, support & train our staff to feel confident, equipped, and skilled to work in partnership with carers and families
   5. Enable collaborations & participation with carers and families to innovate & coproduce services, improvements and policies that are inclusive
   6. Innovate & collaborate with all health, social care, and voluntary sector organisations to coordinate care and support for carers and families.

The IEV Team, working with carers, co-designed and produced a Carer Awareness e-Learning module for staff. The learning package provides insights to the benefits of involving carers and gives more detailed information on the Triangle of Care standards. This training has proved popular with the staff with 1,517 staff completing the learning since it was launched, and 317 staff completing it this year.

During this year, the IEV team has supported local teams to work on their Triangle of Care Action plans following the self-assessment processes in 2023/2024, on local actions to be taken to support our carer and family awareness activity.  This has seen teams review and update their carer leaflets and resources, hold regular career forums, focus groups and open days on wards and in services and review process to inform carers and families of disease specific information.