The Report of the Strategic Director of Health and Wellbeing (Document “F”) provides an update on the Council and CCG’s jointly commissioned Carer Service within Bradford District and Craven.

This report provides information on the emerging needs of unpaid carers as a result of COVID-19 impacts.

Recommended –

That the content of Document “F” be noted.

(Tony Sheeky – 01274 433559)

The Report of the Strategic Director of Health and Wellbeing (Document “F”) provided an update on the Council and CCG’s jointly commissioned Carer Service within Bradford District and Craven.

This report provided information on the emerging needs of unpaid carers as a result of COVID-19 impacts.

The flowing questions were asked by members and co-opted members and responses given:

Q Why had there been a significant increase in the newly-registered carers from BAME communities?

·         External funding had been provided for community engagement which had an impact on reaching out to all communities which would have to be maintained going forward.  The needs of carers and the complexity of their needs had increased since the pandemic and the service was very focussed on providing support for carers.

Q Feedback received by a member was that Carers Resource provided good support to carers.  What percentage of carers did Carers Resource work with and what was the level of unmet need?

·         At present it was estimated that the service reached 20% of carers.  The target was to increase this to 25% by the end of the financial year.  The needs of long term carers will change over time.  The challenge remained that carers did not always identify themselves as carers.  Those who said they did not need any support were encouraged to receive the quarterly magazine.  Resources are not finite and they were looking at doing things in a different way.  During the pandemic they were in touch with the same number of carers either virtually or by phone.  Since coming out of lockdown the number of peer-led groups had been increased. 

Q What methods are used to reach out to carers?

·         There are good links with local press and radio and the use of social media.  Someone has been employed to focus on engagement and to work with colleagues in VSC.

Q How are we able to identify when carers are not coping?

·         Carers Resource often go into people’s homes and have significant finance for a household support fund.  They pick up things such as needing a bed, as the carer is no longer able to share with the person they care for.  There are robust systems in place to get money to people who need it.

Q Where caring breaks down who is responsible to identify this?

·         Sometimes Carers Resource can intervene but they may have to refer a carer to Social Care for respite provision.  They will do their best to prevent carers getting to crisis point.  A dedicated resource had been allocated to enable the needs of the carer as well as the person they care for to be identified during their assessments.

Q There has already been a substantial increase in peer support groups to 160, do you see this number increasing further? Will you have the capacity to support an increase?

·         The model that is used is that staff identify a need and a staff member will facilitate and try to recruit a volunteer to run the group.  They are very concerned that during the winter people will stop coming to groups because of the expense.  Thought is being given to providing transport and light refreshments to encourage people to continue to attend.

Q 64% of referrals to the service are self-referral – do we know how people came to hear about the service?

·         This is not known exactly but anecdotally by word of mouth.

A co-opted member referred to the difficulty caused to people with lifelong health conditions who were required to be reassessed by Metro each year for their bus pass and to take their carer with them.

Resolved –

(1)  That officers in the Directorate of Health and Wellbeing and Carers Resource be thanked for the report.

(2)  That a further report be presented to the Committee in two years.

ACTION: Strategic Director Health and Wellbeing