NEWS
Carers Support Directory
Launched on Thursday 1 December 2011 at our Chesterfield Carers Centre. Click here.
Welcome to the first edition of the Derbyshire Carers Directory. We hope you find the information
useful and enjoy reading about the exciting opportunities that are available for carers across
Derbyshire. Information is divided by area and is a mix of general information about organisations to
help you and local support groups.
This Directory has been produced by Derbyshire Carers Association in partnership with Derbyshire
County Council. It is very much a first version and we are keen to receive feedback. Please do
contact Derbyshire Carers Association on 01773 743355 or e-mail nicolap@derbyshirecarers.co.uk
with any comments amendments or additions. The Directory will be updated on a regular basis, so
your comments are valuable to us in order to make this directory as useful to you as possible.
This directory is also available on the Derbyshire Carers Association website
www.derbyshirecarers.co.uk and the Derbyshire County Council website www.derbyshire.gov.uk
Claire Raw, Project Manager, Carers/Commissioning, Derbyshire County Council.
Helen Robinson, Chief Executive, Derbyshire Carers Association
Princess Royal Trust Affiliation
We are delighted to announce our recent affiliation to the Princess Royal Trust For Carers and look forward to the added value this brings to our Organisation. For more details regarding the Princess Royal Trust For Carers click here
Social Care Campaign
The Princess Royal Trust for Carers are lead members of the Care and Support Alliance which is campaigning for social care reform. There is a public lobby of Parliament on 6th March when people will be able to come and meet their MP in Parliament. It will have a huge impact if the Alliance can get 1000 people, showing MPs how important improving social care is to people, and just before Government is due to publish a White Paper.
For the Social Care Forum briefing paper click here.
For more information on the Campaign date and venue click here.
FREE NEW Telephone book Group for Erewash Carers
Derbyshire Library Service and Housing Aid Derbyshire are teaming up to offer a FREE reading opportunity to Carers in the Erewash area.
A group of 8 carers are needed to try out this innovative way of enjoying reading and socialising in the comfort of your own home.
The way the group works is as follows:
A member of the library service or a volunteer brings each member of the group a copy of the same library book to read every few weeks. The format of the book can be to suit all reading needs so if you need large print or a book on CD we can provide this.
Choices of books are decided by the group themselves and everyone is included in the decisions about what to read for the next few months.
At an agreed time the group all take part in a telephone conferencing conversation with each other about the book that has just been read. The telephone meetings are informal and everyone is involved.
All the technology and phone calls to enable you to take part in this Free book group is free to group members. All you need is a telephone land line and to become a member of Derbyshire library services which is also free.
Please contact Hilary Doherty on 01629532483 or email Hilary.doherty@derbyshire.gov.uk for more details.
We are on Facebook - come and join us
Keep up to date with what we are doing at DCA.
Interact with other Carers.
Visit our Facebook page here.
You will need to register with Facebook, and give a small amount of personal information. You have full contol over who sees that personal information by reviewing your account settings. For more information on Facebook Security from Sophos (a leading virus software company) visit here (this link opens a new window).
Public Transport Questionnaire
Have your say on plans to axe cash help for city bus services.
Derbyshire County Council needs to save money from its public transport budgets and hope you can provide input before they make their decisions.
They say ' We (DCC) currently pay for around 15 per cent of all bus services in Derbyshire, subsidising routes where passenger numbers aren’t high enough for operators to run them on their own. We also support community transport, school transport and help out with some fares for younger, older and disabled people. We will have to make some difficult decisions about the services that we want to protect and the areas where we may be able to make savings. But before we make any decisions we would like to know which services you think are the most important. '
To have your say fill in their questionnaire on their website here (opens in a new window).
Achievement and Performance at DCA
This is taken from our Annual Report and Financial Statement 2010:
'We have continued to offer a high level of support to carers across Derbyshire and have made 770 home visits and a further 239 visits to carers away from the family home. We have provided telephone support on 3380 occasions and telephone advocacy 580 times. Our team at Head Office have made a further 6150 calls to carers and a total of 234 carer support groups have been run in the year. Raising awareness of carers and the challenges that they face continues to be an objective of the charity and staff have participated in many talks and exhibitions.
We have managed the Caring with Confidence programme in Derbyshire and over 1100 Carers have attended sessions across the county covering seven workshop modules assisting towards enhancing Carers' confidence in the caring role they carry out. We have run a variety of events and activities which have the dual aim of supporting carers that are already known to us whilst also raising the profile of carers. This includes events in Carers Week such as the Carers Day in Bakewell and the Carers service in Derby cathedral. Of course Derbyshire is a very large county and it can be difficult to reach all carers so other smaller events, activities and information displays happened across the county during the week.
Throughout the year we held information days, coffee mornings and pamper days for carers. We held a Carers Ball at County Hall in Matlock in October and a Carers Rights Day service in Tideswell church in December.
In partnership with Derby City Council and the NHS, we organised the annual Carers Conference in November for carers residing in Derby.
Behind the scenes our administrative team have worked hard in supporting the work of the charity and we have a much improved newsletter and our online presence has been improved by a volunteer who has modernised our website and put us on Facebook. We have improved our database and developed new monitoring systems that capture not just how many carers we help but also the difference that this makes to their lives.'
To read more about the past year at DCA, and the Financial Statement please go to our AGM page.
Personal Health Budgets in Mental Health
The Mental Health Foundation is conducting a survey of service user and carer views on personal health budgets in mental health. The survey is commissioned by the National Mental Health Development Unit and funded by the NHS Confederation. The survey aims to collect your views on:
· Personal health budgets and how they would be useful to you or to the person you look after
· What help and support you would need to make use of personal health budgets
· Your experiences if you already receive personal budgets or direct payments in relation to your social care needs (or if you manage one for someone you look after)
They hope the survey will help in understanding what support needs there are for people who want to make use of personal health budgets and how to provide this support.
Complete the survey at: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/F92N7BM (opens in a new window)
If you would like to receive the survey questionnaire as an email attachment or would like a paper copy, contact Jayasree Kalathil at Jayasree@survivor-research.com or call 020 8640 9052.
Stressbusters
Take advantage of free stress relief sessions from qualified therapists, get emotional support and give yourself a much needed break from your caring role.
No need for an appointment
Just drop in for personal, friendly, confidential
support on emotional and practical issues.
Talk to Making Space (family support workers)
Refreshments available
More information on the Derbyshire Mental Health Carers website
Caring Emergencies
When carers have a crisis they often don't know who to contact, according to research by Carers UK. They found that emergency social services took too long to respond, and replacement care services were often not available in an emergency. Carers were not getting back-up, and this sometimes has devastating consequences.
Half of carers had not spoken to anyone about what would happen in an emergency, but 92% thought it would help if they did. More than a third of carers had had an assessment, but emergency planning was only included in 39% of those assessments.
Derbyshire Carers Association have two Emergency Planning Project Officers for the Derby City Area.
Andrea Weatherston and Tan Yung are based at Head Office and can help to create an emergency plan for you and the person you care for. Having a plan in place will help to ease your worries if you can't care for your relative or friend at any point in the future.
Having an assessment is a legal right for carers.
Every carer who has an assessment should be asked about emergencies and offered help with planning for them. In addition, people who provide care for people with mental health problems under the care programme approach should have a written care plan which includes contingencies.
Andrea's and Tan's contact details are here
Holiday Grants for Carers
Are you planning a holiday? Derby City Council was awarded a Carers Special Grant to develop its services to Carers. In consultation with Carers and Carers' groups it was decided that some of the money should be set aside to help Carers share a holiday with the person they care for.
As Carers you are eligible to apply for a Carers holiday grant to help towards the cost of having a holiday or taking a short break with the person you care for. Eligibility is based only on your caring situation, is not means tested and does not affect any of your benefits or savings.
More information, and an application form, is on our Social Time and Holidays Page here.
An excellent gift for any occasion
Beautifully designed in a gorgeous colour our new Mouse Mats would make perfect presents for anyone who has a computer and, at only £1.50 each plus 30p p&p, they are a bargain.
All funds raised through the sale of DCA promotional material helps towards the cost of continuing the services provided by DCA to Carers throughout Derbyshire.
To place an order please forward your cheque (payable to Derbyshire Carers Association), name, address and telephone number (in case of queries) and send to Joanne Goodison at Derbyshire Carers Association, White House, The Willows, Slack Lane, Ripley, Derbyshire DE5 3H
