Carer Respite Needs
Engagement Exercise in Nottingham City
Kathryn Brown
Commissioning Manager
NHS Nottingham City
13th October 2010
Rationale for engagement
 A carer is someone who, without payment, provides care and
support to a partner, child, relative, adult, friend or neighbour, who
could not manage without their help. This could be due to age,
physical or mental illness, addiction or disability.
 NHS Nottingham City’s commissioning intention for 2010-11 and
2011-12 is to increase carer respite provision so that carers can be
supported to take a break from this non-paid role; the risk being that
they otherwise could become exhausted themselves and fall ill.
 The objective of the exercise was to engage with local providers
across a range of care groups in order to understand the local
issues and priorities and to break down the definition of ‘respite care’
in order to inform future commissioning plans.
Process of engagement
An advert was placed on Supply2Health to identify local providers interested in
engaging with their local community.
Interested organisations responded to the advert and bid for small funded grants to
conduct carer engagement and develop a report to be submitted to the
commissioners of NHS Nottingham City.
Specific initiatives included questionnaires; focus groups; interviews; ‘wish the fish’;
film making…
Seven organisations were successful in securing grants that ensured engagement
across a broad section of care groups from Nottingham City. The care groups
included:
 End of Life Care
 HIV/AIDS
 Learning disability
 Long Term Conditions
 Mental health
 Neurological conditions
 Physical and Sensory Impairment
 Stroke
 Substance Misuse
Outcomes
Specific issues.
 Carers of those with substance misuse problems stated that they can only access
support through the GP once the individual has acknowledged that they need help, thus
potentially leaving the carer without support for what could be a long time; the only
opportunity for respite being once the individual is in de-tox in-patient care.
 The learning disability response focused on the issues of transition for children going
into adult services and the perceived lack of flexibility, consistency and frequency of the
adult care packages.
 Carers of people with mental health needs identified a common occurrence in
accessing respite breaks and the sometimes inflexible nature of care, in that planned
breaks had to be cancelled at the last minute as the cared for ‘…was in no mood to
accept. Many holiday deposits had been lost in this way.’
 Respite care for children included mainly supporting activities, groups and clubs. It
was felt that these activities could be broadened to include time to spend with their
friends, not necessarily other young carers.
Outcomes cont’d…
 The most common theme across all of the reports received was that the services
should be tailored to meet the individual and not created as a ‘one size fits all’
approach.
 Other common themes:
 Information
 Be-friending
 Day Centres
 Emergency Contact
 Days Out
 Carer breaks
 Care at Home
 Residential Care
Objectives and Outcomes
The funding available to NHS Nottingham City will seek to achieve the
following objectives:
 To provide additional opportunities to allow carers to take a break
 To fill gaps in services and care groups where limited support currently
exists
 To test innovative ways of providing respite that are attractive and
flexible
 To support the implementation of the national Carers’ Strategy
recommendations
The funding available to NHS Nottingham City will seek to achieve the
following outcomes:
 Carers feel supported in their role as carer
 Improved access to respite for carers
 Improved quality of life and the promotion of dignity and self worth for
carers and patients
 A contributory reduction in unnecessary emergency hospital admissions
Commissioning Plans for 2010-12
(In no particular order):
 To establish a joint commissioning group between NHS Nottingham City and
Nottingham City Council so that joint opportunities can be identified and funding can
be used more effectively to reach more carers in a coordinated approach, including
the development of service directories and supporting information;
 To scope opportunities to create additional day care respite;
 To scope opportunities to create more peer support/be-friending groups;
 To explore services to support carers of stroke survivors within the home;
 To identify innovative day time or evening events that can provide both the carer and
cared for some entertainment, across all care groups;
 To support the Marie Curie Helper pilot that works with volunteers to provide at home
respite for carers of patients with palliative and end of life care needs.
These intentions will be developed into service specifications following a process of
market analysis and will be implemented over the next 6 – 18 months.
With thanks and any questions?
NHS Nottingham City would like to give thanks to the following organisations
and the participants within each engagement exercise:
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Bright Ideas
British Red Cross
Carers Federation
Nottingham Mencap
Nottinghamshire Hospice
Radford Care Group
Speaking Up
ANY QUESTIONS?