Caring Roadshows – Community nursing and carers working in partnership

I have been working as a nurse for over 37 years in secondary primary and community care settings and have worked in partnership with carers of all ages. I have had some personal experience, a few years ago, supporting caring for my mum at the end of her life. This experience gave me the opportunity to see things through a very different lens.

In my working role in primary care, I was looking at how carers were identified and recognised. In our community nursing roles, we have a real opportunity to engage and connect with local communities and in addressing the social determinants of health that impact on the burden of caring responsibilities.

The value of unpaid care is equivalent to a second NHS in England and Wales, which in 2020/21 received an estimated £164 billion in funding. There is increasing evidence that ‘caring’ should be considered as a social determinant of health as outlined in 2021 by a Public Health England report.

In 2022, following the implementation of the Fuller report, Primary and Community Care systems were challenged to work more in partnership with people, inclusive of carers and those professionals working within complex health and care systems. In 2023, Statutory guidance was issued to Integrated Care Boards across England to enable and support universal system change, covering the core personalised care principles and the leadership required to realise these benefits.

Caring Roadshows

It was this work that led me to meet and be inspired by peer carer Trevor Clower, founder of Caring Roadshows and Louise Brady, Lead GPN for NHS England. Trevor’s success with Caring Roadshows was an amazing co-production between carers and nurses so we can support carers after we have identified who they are. The carers roadshows really excited me, as they have a ‘street to strategy’ ethos. You cannot fail to be captured by Trevor and Louise’s energy, both carers themselves.

These are low-cost high-return events, where Trevor combines his talents, with the input of nursing teams, together with community, voluntary and social enterprise sector. There is a market stall approach where carers can access a range of services in just one afternoon. The inaugural Barnsley roadshow in 2023 was a great success and the second is running this year. Trevor and Louise have developed a large system piece of work, with Primary and Community Nursing teams, together with leaders in the care system, to support and enable unpaid carers within their local communities across the country.

Primary care and community nurses, and student nurses, can all take part in the roadshows, and it helps them to understand the importance of identifying carers and their unmet needs. There is learning in the recognition of ‘Caring’ as a social determinant of health to support population health across the community.

Last year, over three and a half days, a total of 2310 carers and families were supported with health and care needs. Sixty-five organisations took part, and 227 health checks were delivered to patients. This year, Caring Roadshows will be running in Carers Week across Yorkshire, and an additional eight Roadshows are planned, Including Birmingham, Cornwall and Greater Manchester. If you would like further information, please contact www.caring-roadshows.co.uk

Following in Trevor’s footsteps, it then became my ambition to develop a strategic aim, working with local authority colleagues for carers to have access to information, and practical and emotional support to help them achieve the outcomes which matter most to them.

 Andrea Parkin

Associate Director of Quality and Professions – Adult Community Services

RN ( Adult) Advanced Nurse Practitioner MSc, Non Medical Prescriber

Pioneer Court, Castleford, Wakefield.

References and reading

• Caring as a social determinant of health (publishing.service.gov.uk)
• valuing-carers-report.pdf (carersuk.org)
• Fuller report (england.nhs.uk)
• Working in Partnership with People and Communities (england.nhs.uk)