Does someone depend on you?

An unpaid carer is anyone who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help. This could be due to illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction. They cannot manage without your support.

Carers are not paid for the care they give, although they may receive Carers Allowance. Anyone can become a carer at any time. You may not recognise that you’re a carer if you’re doing what comes naturally as a daughter, son, parent, friend or neighbour.

As a trust, we are committed to listening to, involving and supporting carers.

We recognise carers are essential to the health and wellbeing of those we care for.

Our strategic priorities for carers

We have worked with our staff, our patients and residents, voluntary and carer organisations to develop new priorities for carers. The priorities aim to raise awareness, recognition, and support for all types of carers.

A graphic listing the priorities. They are also listed below.

  • Develop a 'Think Carer' approach that ensures health inclusion, reduces health inequalities, and promotes the health and well-being of both carers and the people they care for across all community groups and involving carers in the development and improvement of Northumbria's services.
  • Raise awareness, recognition, and support of all types of carers—family, staff, paid, and unpaid—and value the knowledge and expertise of carers as expert care partners.
  • Improve communication between carers and our staff by providing relevant and accessible information, and ensure staff have access to relevant carer-related education and training.
  • Increase support for carers through coordinated care, shared decision-making, and reasonable adjustments.
  • Build strong collaborative partnerships with the third sector and health and social care providers to facilitate joined-up system working practices.

What support is available?

Carers assessment

If you need support in relation to your caring role, you are entitled to a statutory carers assessment. Your local carers organisation can help. They can tell you who to contact.

You can find your local carer organisation here:

Northumberland

North Tyneside

Durham & Darlington

Gateshead

Hartlepool

Middlesbrough

Newcastle

South Tyneside

Stockton on Tees

Sunderland

 

More on health and wellbeing services from the voluntary and community sector is available here:

North Tyneside

Northumberland

 

National support

UK | Carers UK

Help For Carers | Comprehensive Support from Carers Trust

Mobilise is an online community so that nobody has to figure out a caring role on their own.

The above contains links to information on carers assessments, benefits and specialised support.

More information about our dementia service is available here.

 

Admiral Nurses

Admiral Nurses are registered nurses who specialise in dementia care. They work with families and people affected by dementia. They focus on patients with complex needs. Admiral Nurses work in the community, care homes, hospitals and hospices.

We have a hospital-based Admiral Nurse service. It operates Monday to Friday (excluding bank holidays) from 8am to 4pm. The team aims to support people with dementia while they are in hospital. They also support their carers, relatives, and the staff caring for them. You can ask the nurse in charge of the ward about a referral. You can also contact the team on 0191 282 8923 or AdmiralNursesNHCT@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.uk.

 

John’s Campaign

We support John's Campaign in all our hospitals and wards. The campaign supports carers to go on caring for their loved ones in hospital. This includes flexible visiting arrangements, free parking and discounted meals. More about these arrangements is available here. The nurse in charge of the ward can explain more. They can give you a carers card.

 

Safe and Found Online

Northumbria Police has an new online initiative which helps to find vulnerable missing people quicker. More information is available here.

 

Useful contacts

  • Northumberland: Northumberland Dementia Adviser service provides information, advice, support, and signposting to local services for people living with dementia and for anyone who is caring for someone with dementia. Call 01670 813255 or emailnorthumberland@alzheimers.org.uk
  • North Tyneside: North Tyneside Admiral Nurses provide emotional and practical support for people in North Tyneside who are living with dementia and for carers of people living with dementia:  Age UK North Tyneside | Admiral Nurses

Hospital care

We have dedicated Learning Disability Acute Liaison Nurses. Patients, parents, carers and friends can contact them before and during a hospital stay.

You can find helpful information and resources here.


Community Learning Disability Service

This service supports children and adults with a learning disability and complex health needs in Northumberland and North Tyneside.

Find out more about services and support here.

 

Other useful links

We have signed up to the Armed Forces Covenant. We aim to ensure that members of the armed forces community and their families are treated fairly. We also recognise that caring within this community can have extra challenges.

We aim to identify serving personnel, veterans and their families to ensure you get the right care and support. More information is availalble here.

 

Safe and Found Online

Northumbria Police has an new online initiative which helps to find vulnerable missing people quicker. There is a specific scheme for the armed forces community. This is called the Forcer Protocol. More information on both is available here.

There is also information on this poster.

There is a range of useful information and support available on our Cancer information and support page.

You may also find these useful:

The Carents Room provides a range of information and support.

 

Safe and Found Online

Northumbria Police has an new online initiative which helps to fund vulnerable missing people quicker. More information is available here.

 

Other useful links

General information and rights:

 

Local face-to-face and online support:

 

National helplines, forums and mental health support:

 

Specialist support for young carers:

You can find more information, including about our Carer Staff Network, on the staff portal here.

We offer free car parking in some cases for patients or their visitors. This includes:

  • Patients coming to our hospitals on a regular and repeated basis
  • Visitors of patients in hospital for a long stay
  • People who are staying in the hospital with patients to support them.

This list is not exhaustive. Please speak to a member of the ward team to ask about free parking.

Visiting information
Are you a BSL user?
Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS)