Welcome back to another blog post by unpaid carer Matthew Mckenzie. I am happy to have been able to write up some posts, despite being fairly busy. I want to put a thought in your head, I know in this society, we do not often have time to stop and reflect. Living in this fast paced life it is so important to stop and think ever now again.
The thought I want to put into your head is this. “Have you thought about where you live”? Is it in the city or suburbs? Maybe a village or town. Perhaps this is not even a deep thought when you step back and observe, but it does not end there. When you look around, what do you see? Are those around the area as busy as you are? Or perhaps do they seem to be more relaxed? Maybe they are letting the world go by.
Now think about your health and wellbeing, are you lucky to have good health? It is not as easy as everyone thinks, because we are so busy, it is hard to find the time to eat well, exercise or even get a good nights sleep. We all know what happens if we cannot look after our health and wellbeing, but if you are curious then I will explain later.
Hello again. I promised I would do a blog of timeline of Nursing in the UK. Well, its not really a timeline, but a video of some important events in regards to Nursing in the UK. Usually I do blog posts focusing on unpaid carers, but I felt it time to expand some blogs in which unpaid carers come into contact with.
I have been meaning to do this video blog for a while now, since carers have a lot to say about the field of nursing, probably due to the importance nurses have when the cared for ends up unwell. However even carers can become unwell and every one else. The great contribution nurses have given should be recognised and I am sure to do more blog posts to promote health and the NHS in future, although mainly from a carers perspective.
Welcome back to another health awareness video. I have been gone quite a long while, but that doesn’t mean I have not been very busy. I usually am involved with many carer forums and groups in and around south/south east London. I try to raise awareness of unpaid carers who look after someone suffering from mental illness.
To see the video version, please click below
However there comes a time when we need to look after ourselves, be it if we are caring for someone or trying to care for ourselves. This video looks into Self Care week, which runs from November 13th to November 19th. The theme is Embracing Self Care for Life. Self care is about keeping fit and healthy, understanding when you can look after yourself and also when to askfor advice from a GP.
If you are unwell or suffer from a long term condition then it is very important you find out as much as you can in order to support yourself. Self care need not be so difficult if you know what you are dealing with.
Across the UK many suffer needlessly when dealing with weight problems, lack of exercise and stopping smoking. Getting information or attending events can be useful in combating unhealthy lifestyles. If you are caring for someone, you can easily fall into the habit of not paying much attention to your own health needs. It is an easy mistake to make especially when you have little time for yourself.
From the self care forum website, there are tips and advice not only for yourself, but for GP surgeries and pharmacists up and down the UK. It is a massive drive to get the population healthier and combat damaging habits to our health.
It has been a while since my last blog post. Usually I review psychiatry or psychology lectures, but I thought to go back into writing more about carers. This time I think I shall blog about why people want to be there for others, especially those that are close to them.
The role of a carer unfortunately is not an easy task or one that people are often ready for. Who is to say when the next person is to be struck down by a physical or mental illness. If we are to begin that journey where we are to care for our loved one, there are many paths that we can go down and each path can make things easier or incredibly difficult in the long run.
Welcome to another one of my blog posts, on this particular post I want to talk about carers. Those who have regularly visited my blog might have some idea what a carer already is, but for those who are new to my blog may wonder “what actually is a carer?” What defines a carer and why do people, families and communities sometimes feel compelled to care?
What is a carer
Someone who looks after another persons needs
Lets say you have known someone most of your life or perhaps someone in your family who has fallen ill. That person tries to do their chores and live their life without much help or support, but after a while it will be noticed by most people that they are struggling.
This is when a person decides to take on some of the responsibilities of that person that has become ill, although the carer’s main focus is to provide help, some security and care for that person.
Not all carers are the same and some have demanding caring duties, while others care on and off for a short time, but no matter what the tasks, they are all carers.
They are mostly not professional carers
When I talk about carers, I am not talking carers who train up on a course and look for people to care for. I am talking about those who find out that care is directed at them due to a family member falling ill, or a neighbour or a friend in desperate caring need. I am talking about parents looking after their children who have sustained serious injuries, disabilities or impairment. I am talking about young carers who are not only trying to understand their place in the world, but also trying to understand why their parents are in need of assistance.
Its not that carers can’t walk away from the care they give, some carers have to make that decision on what they should sacrifice. Carers may have to give up work, education, time and commitments to provide care.
Carers are known as carers because they ARE standing by their loved one. If someone moves on they can still provide some care, but it might not be as demanding as those who are currently providing long term or full time care.
Carers have to juggle many things as if their own life is slightly put on hold while they seek to understand the illness that is affecting who they care for. This is more difficult if the illness happens to be a mental illness or perhaps a devastating physical problem.
Some carers might not have a clue on what they may face and will have to look for answers or support, but we ll get on to that later.
Types of carers
I am not going to make a long list, but I will want to try define at least some of the types of carers. There are always a long list of carers you can search for on the internet, but since all carers are not the same, it makes sense to point out different types of carers.
Carers for elderly
Here we have those who will end up looking after their parents, most do this because they are concerned or worried that their loved ones will end up in a home too far away from them. Quite a lot of older people prefer to stay at home for their own independence, while others fear abuse and neglect.
Some people may wish for their parents to move on, but carers may prefer old aged parents to stay at home. You can also have older aged carers who care for their partners who are ageing. Other older aged carers also may care even for younger people.
Below is a list of symptoms carers may have to care for when looking after older aged loved ones.
List of symptoms these types of carers provide care for
Heart conditions
Dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease
Depression
Incontinence
Arthritis
Osteoporosis
Diabetes
Breathing problems
Frequent falls, which can lead to fractures
Parkinson’s disease
Cancer
Carers for the disabled
These type of carers can be of any age, but this time care can be demanding depending on the disability the caree has, when I mean caree, I am talking about the person receiving the care.
Types of disabilities a carer will have to care for.
This is not a full list, but shows what carers may need to tackle in order to provide care. I have two brothers who have Autism and providing care and safety as well as treating them with dignity can be a juggling act, but be aware Autism is a range or spectrum of disabilities.
There are also different ranges of paralysis putting strain on carers wanting to care for those who lack the function to care for themselves.
Carers for mentally ill
Another type of carer who often can be hit pretty hard because they can lack the knowledge of how to deal with mental illness that has struck their loved one. How can you care for someone who may not wish to receive care and yet is recognised by the mental health system as user of the services. What happens if the caree does not wish to engage with services? Where does this leave the carer, what rights do they have?
Some disorders can vary in the type of care needed, while other disorders are devastating and require support not only for the patient or person with lived experience, but also for the carer who can at times be overwhelmed in providing care.
Youngs Carers
One of the most difficult experiences for a carer is that of a young carer. Young carers can lack decisions on if to provide care or how to cope. Young carers face carer stigma and bullying from other young people who may find it funny that the person is caring for someone with disabilities or other illnesses.
The strain on young carers can be so difficult that often family relationships break down, although relationship breakdown is a common theme among many other types of carers.
Young carers especially need help in supporting their relatives and usually this can depend on how good social services are. One strain could be that pressure is put on the caree to have their child put in some form of care, but this can cause added strain to the child who now lacks family support, but could have freedom to enjoy their childhood. The balance of growing up as a young carer is a very fine line.
What MAKES a person a carer
You do not want to see your loved one hurt physically, emotional
A carer is not a sudden role, usually a carer is formed as a slow process. Since I have been a carer for most of my life, I have come to the conclusion that being a carer is something you become and the role will change.
As a carer you do not wish anyone else to take over your role due to fear that role will not be carried out, but this does depend on the type of care needed. I am now going into controversial mode. In the UK some of the health systems have failed loved ones, the systems designed to protect communities, families and those who fall ill have ended up as part of the problem due to power culture and lack of information share.
The elderly, frail, sick or mentally ill have been put at risk time and time again due to lack of resources, lack of finances, mistrust and neglect and lack of…..care.
I am not going out on a limb to blame the NHS as a whole. Since in the UK this is one of the biggest and best placed institutions, which Britain has to be proud for, we have skilled health professionals working overtime to provide care in difficult circumstances and even then we have carers who fail their loved one due to abuse and also neglect.
However we are always asked this question, the question asked of a carer is who do you trust?
The NHS or care system in any country has to be responsible somewhere, too many stories of failure to provide care and families and communities will mistrust the health system, they will then provide their own care. The primary role of a carer is to not see any more harm come to those that they love.
Carers share time and energy in their role to care
Although carers are put under pressure, but carers noticed that they can share their time to provide some care otherwise a carer would more likely step back and walk away.
There is a threshold where a carer will decide to stop if their caring duties become too much, but carers can see time and energy placed in their role. The resources of time, care and energy must be planned in order to stop a carer from being over burdened, this is not an easy thing to get right and it depends again on what the caree is suffering from as present.
Caring sometimes can be overwhelming, which is why carers need support themselves
No one is a born carer and carers often worry about their own health, be it physical or mental support. Carers who care do not get paid unless its a form of benefit, however caring is almost like a job to most carers, but carers aren’t bankers or engineers, they do not serve the public in that way.
Carers try to keep their families together, families try to keep community together, without the community then what do we have left? That is a frightening thought.
Carers have to emotionally second guess what their loved ones needs are, carers may also have to advocate on behalf of their loved one, sometimes the law may try to support carers, but at the same time block carers access to information (for a good reason), but this can cause conflict in the caring role.
Carers have to do physical chores, shopping, cooking, hygiene care, financial support and keeping the family together as well as sacrifice their own future.
The problem is caring is not something that can be physically traded, care is provided behind doors, caring is just something that is not often seen, so perhaps society does not value carers as they value material things. Maybe this is a human condition, but this human condition has a flaw, because not all in society will be carers, but one day we will all need care ourselves. Think about that for a second.
Carers can be trapped by outside forces who may not recognise them
Carers can be easily trapped, as I have mentioned before no one is forced to care, since caring can be a decision process. Some people can walk away from care, while for other carers the role has become too much and rightly so.
Maybe carers just feel they are not getting that support, but each day a carer will question themselves on how much resources do they have left?
Carer Stigma
Some people do not wish to be labelled as carers because they feel they are caring out the role as if they are a family member or doing this out of honour for the community. Others prefer that they are labelled supporter or helper, but no matter what they are called, they are providing care and assistance. Some carers are fortunate to have bigger families who can help take turns in the role, while other carers are litarily a one man army digging deep in vast energy resources.
Society is only as strong as the people who live within it and test it. Society is just not the be all and end all, society is changing all the time. The problem is society also must remain a state where community wishes to live within it. We all wish for society to be civil, but the problem is so many things are tied to economics and that includes the health system. Its a numbers game, less resources here and someone has to pay the price and the cost is painful.
Society has rules and unfortunately rules can trap carers. Carers can end up paying the price where they are only trying to help their family or the community.
Carers need to speak up, but not all can speak
Carers need to speak up, if carers wish to be valued for what they do, they need to let others know what battle they face almost every day. Some carers cannot easily do this, while others face the stigma of caring.
I have come across some people who feel carers are just lazy people who should get a real job, and some do have a point, there are other carers who abuse their position, but for most of the time a lot of carers are under huge amounts of pressure. Throughout my caring role I have encountered many organisations in the UK speaking up for carers that being CarersUK or Carers Trust and many more.
We also have engagement and participation groups and healthwatch springs to mind, because they play a greater role on access to quality health care.
Some support
If you are a carer yourself or know someone who is starting out as a carer, you are not alone, there is some help to support you on your journey
Going on line to find resources
Its a tough one, but I have always found going online to look for examples of providing good care. Some will say the internet has too much nonsense to make any good idea of what care should be, but use your judgement, compare different sources. Get numbers and ring around, join forums. CarersUK has a forum which offers support, advice and experience.
As for other countries, there usually is some form of carers forums online. If you do not have access to the internet, usually a library or a carers center has some online facilities for carers to use. Use these facilities to also plan your future, since it is important to work on your skillset, since you might not be a carer forever.
Visiting carer centers
You can always physically get support and that is by booking some time at a carers center. I use carers Lewisham myself and sometimes I pop over to other boroughs in London. At carers center you can get emotional support as counselling, financial advice, advocacy and meet other carers. The rule is do not try to cope by yourself.
Speaking to other carers
As I have mentioned before, speaking to other carers is vital. I can say safely say I have written this blog in one sitting, but I have only 10% of knowledge of what is required of carers. Speaking to other carers has several benefits but the biggest is to show that you are not the only one out there, you are not on your own. Carers can also offer advice on starting out on care, they can also offer some emotional support and advocate if need be. The other side of the coin is you can offer advice to carers who are at their wits end.
Information is your currency to your caring role
People often value currency as in money, carers lack financial capital, but money cannot buy love or care. So the thing is what can buy good love or care?
The answer is Information.
Carers should look online, speak to others and do not be afraid to ask. Get information and turn it into knowledge, then apply the knowledge. We are not perfect and the human condition is frail as is also society is not perfect and can also be put under pressure.
As a carer you will make mistakes, you will judge and be judged. You will get angry, you will be pushed aside and lied to and be undervalued, but deep down you can look yourself in the mirror. Money comes and goes, but memories of those who care will last generations to come.
Welcome to another blog post from my carers blog site. As usual I sometimes check out events to do with Mental Health, wellbeing events and carer’s events. I do not mind feeding back what I have picked up from these events. So on the Tuesday 22nd July over at Cambridge House in the London Borough of Southwark.
I decided to check out Southwark Healthwatch event on ” What’s happening in Social Care in Southwark – now and in the future?”.
The event lasted from 4:00 pm till 6:30 pm and there was lots on offer, plus plenty of time to contribute and get our views across. Before I continue, you may wonder what on earth is Healthwatch all about?
Healthwatch helps to give people a powerful voice locally and nationally. At a local level, local Healthwatch will work to help local people get the best out of their local health and social care services. Whether it’s improving them today or helping to shape them for tomorrow.
Healthwatch is the independent consumer champion created to gather and represent the views of the public. Healthwatch plays a critical role at both national and local level and will make sure that the views of the public and people who use services are taken into account.
Each borough across the UK has its own Healthwatch and not all Healthwatches have the same problems or work the same way, but their main focus is getting the people’s views via the right channels and helping sign post people to the correct health organisations. Healthwatch also a lot more than what I have mentioned, but please check out Healthwatch Southwark‘s site when you have time.
So going back to the event on “Social Care in Southwark”, what was in store?
Luckily we were told the agenda before the event, plus copies of the agenda were placed nearly on the tables. I must admit, even though I could not get any shots of people in the audience. The event was well attended, I think around 60 to 70 people came to the event. Quite a few of them being active members for their organisation. Here is a list of representations at the event. I have also taken the time to add a link of each organisations site.
Community Action Southwark – Umbrella group for voluntary sector groups in the borough. Healthwatch Southwark – Here to make sure your views on local health and social care services are heard.
Local residents – Residents of Southwark who attended the event.
Metropolitan – Might be reps from the police. Lambeth and Southwark MIND – Independent charity run by people who have personal experience of using mental health services. Anchor – Provide a range of housing support for older residents in Southwark and beyond. Blackfriars Settlement – Multi-faceted educational charity operating in North Southwark SLaM – South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Southwark Council – Council to Southwark Residents Cambridge House – provide both a Law Centre offers confidential advice, assistance and representation. Southwark Carers – provides information, advice and support to Carers across the borough. Cooltan Arts – mental health and arts charity that believes mental well-being is enhanced by the power of creativity. Southwark Irish Pensioners Project – Provide a lifeline to hundreds of elderly, vulnerable and isolated Irish people in Southwark
Southwark Deaf Group – Support for Deaf People around most daily living issues. Latin American Disabled People’s Project – Run by and for disabled Spanish and Portuguese speaking people living in London.
Eritrean Orthodox Church and Community Centre – Eritrean Orthodox Christian Community Church.
Latin American UK forum – Helps support Latin American’s living in the UK. Southwark Disablement Association – SDA is an organisation of people with seen and unseen disabilities which supports disabled people Latin American Womens Rights Service – supports Latin American women in the UK Anjel 2000 – Supports Organisations and Individuals in the Health and Social Care Sector.
If I jump into the agenda of the event. We had the David Cooper who is the Chair of Healthwatch Southwark open the event.
Next was the Manager of Healthwatch Southwark “Alvin Kinch” explain more about what Healthwatch Southwark is all about.
After that, we have the director of social care “Alexandra Laidler” present to us about the challenges and developments of social care services in the borough of Southwark.
Once the speakers were finished, we then moved onto a quick question and answer session, which was followed by group discussions on a scenario and then each table fed back to the audience on their findings.
After the findings, we then were treated to a free dinner, which was very healthy.
So what I ll do is give a quick break down or pointers from the event.
First David Strong presented on the projects Healthwatch Southwark are doing and what they have been up to during the past 6 months. David also mentioned that while Healthwatch southwark are so busy working on the 4 targets for the people in southwark, these being the following
Access to GP services Access to Mental Health services Sexual Health Services, specifically HIV Social Care
So the last part mentioned being social care was Healthwatch Southwarks aim to get our views and collate them into a report.
David Asked an important question “What happens when individuals do not meet the means-tested threshold to receive care and support”?
How can they pay for social care?
We then had Alvin explain a bit more about what Healthwatch Southwark is about. She went through the following being.
– How Healthwatch listens to people’s voices on matters of health services.
– How Healthwatch Southwark sets up focus groups, which they have been doing throughout the year.
– How Healthwatch visits services.
– They then produce a report on what they find.
– They also visit older people’s services.
– Plus when people contact Healthwatch, Healthwatch southwark can advise or signpost.
– Healthwatch Southwark does “Enter & View” training, but I think also many other healthwatches do this.
During the event, there was a mention of the New care act 2014, which I hope to cover one day.
Next up was Alex Laidler who is the Director of Adult Social Care at Southwark Council. She spoke about how cuts presents a difficult problem for social care services in the London Borough of Southwark. Alex also mentioned more on “The Care Act” and “The Children and families Act”.
Alex spoke on how cuts will drive services to integrate with each other. This is where Southwark Council seeks to develop its Health & Wellbeing Strategy.
Southwark’s Health & Wellbeing Board have set up three priorities in order to deliver better health and care outcomes for the residents of Southwark, which are
– Giving every young person the best start in life
– Building healthier communities
– Improving the experiences of the most vulnerable residents and enabling them to live more independent lives.
Alex moved on to talk about how Southwark council and Southwark’s CCG strategic approach to integration. One of the points raised were how Southwark Council and the CCG have agreed their “Better Care Fund” where £22 million will fund schemes to support people to live at home and avoid hospital and A&E care.
The director of social care for Southwark then highlighted Southwark Council’s Social Care Priorities. I ll point out two being
– Develop diverse, innovative and adaptable health and social care
– Personalised health and social care services that are able to follow a resident through their lifetime.
Alex then talked about Southwark councils objectives for
Older people when it comes to social care.
Mental Health in the social Care setting
objectives for Learning disabilities & Autism.
And also Carers.
I ll point out a few of the objectives mentioned for carers
– Improving information and advice for carers
– Developing an outreach programme to reach carers at an early stage
– Young carers programme to offer support for young carers
– Expanding the provision of personal budgets for carers
– and many more points presented at the event
After Alex’s presentation, we heard quite a few good questions from the audience and representatives.
One question was about how difficult it is to know about personal budgets or even how to get a personal budget if suffering mental health problems.
Another was on how more awareness is needed for the Deaf community, plus the lack of interpreters.
A good question from the reps was on the financial situation of carers in Southwark.
After the Q&A session, there were the “Round the table” discussion. Each of the 7 tables where given around I think up to 3 scenarios focusing on Social Care problems, which we then fed back at the end. I found the discussions quite informative and education, since I admit I do not know much about social care problems.
Here were the points that were fed back at the end of the discussions from each table.
– There can be a problem when it comes to understanding what the person wants regarding social care, a lot can be down to the assessment criteria.
– The council should support and develop deaf people on some services.
– There is far too short time on discharge plans for Mental health users
– People need more control of social care services, there needs to be more choice.
– Social care assessments should be integrated
– carers needs support especially when the caree does not make their own support needs known.
– Discharge plans can and do often go wrong
After the lengthy discussions and feedback session, attendees were treated to a light meal, which I very much appreciated.
So how did I find the Healthwatch Southwark event?
* I felt the information presented at the event was relevant to its issues, but we will have to see how the health services act on the queries and questions.
* I was giving the opportunity to participate and even had the chance to feedback and share my experiences, this is critical to any focus group or event. Such events should be inclusive.
* The event made me understand the importance of giving my views on local health and social care services, if you do not give your views on health services, then its difficult for organisations to measure their effectiveness. Plus being able to give your views on health experiences is empowering, since I am sure that in the past, people were ignored, especially the most vulnerable people in the community.
* I felt my knowledge of Healthwatch has increased and I hope your knowledge about Healthwatch Southwark has increased as well.
* The knowledge of the speakers were very good, although I would have liked just a few more speakers, but I could understand the lack of time allocated at the event.
* The venue being Cambridge House was excellent and I certainly enjoyed the healthy food that was served.
At the end of the event, we congratulated Alvin Kinch on how much she has contributed to Healthwatch and LiNK, she now has moved to a new role with Healthwatch England and I hope Alvin will continue to contributed much more to engaging people’s views on health services.
As a carer I felt it was important to attend Healthwatch events not only to get my voice heard or spread knowledge of the event, but also listen to other people affected by the health services. They have very important things to say and Healthwatch is there to collate their views.
Welcome back to another health awareness video. I have been gone quite a long while, but that doesn’t mean I have not been very busy. I usually am involved with many carer forums and groups in and around south/south east London. I try to raise awareness of unpaid carers who look after someone suffering from mental illness.
It has been a while since my last blog post. Usually I review psychiatry or psychology lectures, but I thought to go back into writing more about carers. This time I think I shall blog about why people want to be there for others, especially those that are close to them.
A Caring Mind 