Nursing in the Community

Supporting Carers

Online learning resources for all community nurses who work with carers.

A District Nurse chats with a carer when visiting her husband at home

The QNI aims to support community nurses who work with carers. These learning resources have been developed for nurses and nursing students to improve the quality of life for carers and those they care for.

Definition of a Carer

A carer is anyone who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without their support.

Becoming a carer can be daunting, can be planned or unplanned, can happen very quickly, or slowly over a period of time. Many carers do not see themselves as being “a carer”.  This is especially important to remember when working patients, families and carers from different cultures and backgrounds.

How can I support carers as a community nurse?

Nurses working in the community are in an ideal position to identify, support and signpost carers of all ages but carers often report being unheard, unseen and unsupported and the face health inequalities with both personal and financial costs.

Carers care across the life course and have been known to be as young as 4 years old. There are many terms describing unpaid carers including Young Carers, Young Adult Carers, Working Carers, Parent Carers, Older Carers, and Sibling Carers.

Being a carer can be very rewarding and fulfilling, but it can also take its toll on physical and emotional health and wellbeing. Many carers have to reduce their working hours or are unable to work and are forced into poverty.

It is really important carers of all ages are identified as early as possible and offered the support they have the right to receive. Access to support can improve the quality of life of carers but this in many cases is not happening soon enough.

Many carers told us that access to good health and social care for the person they are caring for is vital for their own quality of life. – Caring in a Complex World – The King’s Fund

It took on average three years for young carers to be linked into any support, with some young carers caring for more than 10 years before being identified. – APPG for Young Carers and Young Adult Carers

The Triangle of Care

The Triangle of Care is based on six principles which health and care providers can use to include and support unpaid carers, staff and those receiving care. It has been implemented  in the majority of mental health Trusts but it can be and is being promoted to be used in all health care settings.

The six key standards

  • Carers and the essential role they play are identified at first contact, or as soon as possible thereafter.
  • Staff are ‘carer aware’ and trained in carer engagement strategies.
  • Policy and practice protocols re: confidentiality and sharing information are in place.
  • Defined post(s) responsible for carers are in place.
  • A carer introduction to the service is available, with a relevant range of information across the care pathway.
  • A range of carer support services is available.

Click here to view a short explainer video on the Triangle of Care.

If you wish to know more about the Triangle of Care please contact Debbie Hustings Programme Manager

Carers Rights

Carers including Young Carers have many rights. First and foremost, it is important to know there is no legal obligation to be a carer, carers have the right to choose and coercion or manipulation to care is illegal. Carers are entitled to protection from the impact of the caring role. There is much legislation relating to carers and two key pieces of legislation are:

The Care Act 2014

The Children and Families Act 2014

Carers have a right to request a Carers Assessment from their local council and is assessment focusing on the carer and their caring role. Local councils are responsible for carrying out Carers Assessments and they may commission a local carers service to carry them out.

How to find your local council

How to find your local carers service

Young Carers

Children and young people under the age of 18 with caring responsibilities are known as young carers and many remain unidentified and unsupported for many years. The recent All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) report published stark findings about the lives of young carers. Young Carers are now recorded in the School Census but early findings are an underrepresentation of the numbers.

The Young Carers Covenant was launched in 2024 and the QNI were proud to be one of the first organisations to sign up, demonstrating their commitment to the young carers agenda. The covenant sets out 10 key outcomes young carers said were important to them to improve their lives.

The Young Carers Alliance brings together like minded people and organisations to network, learn and campaign together. Members from research, policy and practice come together to improve the outcomes of young carers with regular newsletters and webinars. The QNI was proud to become the 200th organisation to join! The alliance is free to join and is a growing collective with over 500 individual members and 200 organisations. 

Working Carers

It is estimated there are 3.7 million carers in the UK juggling work and caring responsibilities and 250,000 NHS employees are working carers.

“There are an estimated 250,000 carers working in the NHS, many of whom are aged between 45-64 and so are likely to be among our most experienced and skilled staff.”

Working Carers have rights within the workplace. Many organisations provide support for working carers with a local network and Working Carer Passport schemes forming part of an organisations “Carer Friendly” approach. Top tips to supporting Working Carers include:

  • Manager support and communication – the importance of timely, compassionate conversations around support needs to maintain good staff wellbeing is essential, take time to understand the individual’s circumstances.
  • Respite breaks – holding regular wellbeing conversations provides an opportunity to offer some time out to the individual, allowing them to unwind and take carer respite breaks.
  • No size fits all – having wellbeing conversations that considers age, disability, religion or belief and other protected characteristics can play a key part in improving the lived experience of staff with caring responsibilities.
  • Flexible working – establishing new hours of work and hybrid working doesn’t mean that service will be compromised, protecting flexible working patterns and providing more agile working can boost staff wellbeing both physically and mentally.
  • Clear policies – having an established policy helps managers provide better support and be able to meet the needs of staff and improve their experience.
  • Staff networks – in many cases these have been rejuvenated because of the pandemic. They have become a trusted space for discussing issues of concern that may be hard to raise elsewhere.
  • Chaplaincy support – giving emotional and spiritual care, and support which offers solace and spiritual guidance to people of all faiths, as well as those with no faith, can be of great benefit.

Find out how you can support staff with caring responsibilities. 

Older Carers

With an aging population it is unsurprising the number of carers over 65 is increasing too. Coupled with a cost-of-living crisis and challenges in social care older carers face health inequalities.

According to our recent research, there are now over 2m carers aged 65 and over, 417,000 of whom are aged 80 and over. – Age UK

Carers often living with multiple health conditions themselves prioritise the health and wellbeing of the person they are caring for.

  • Almost 9 out 10 (86%), equivalent to 3.3 million across England, had worried about whether they will be able to keep caring or providing support.
  • Almost half (48%), equivalent to 1.9 million carers across England had felt anxious because of the care or support they provide.
  • More than a third (34%), equivalent to 1.3 million of carers across England, had felt overwhelmed because of the care or support they provide.
  • More than a fifth (21%), equivalent to 830,000 carers across England, had felt lonely because of the care or support they provide.
  • Over a half of carers (51%), equivalent to 2 million, have not been sleeping well.

How to better support unpaid carers

How can community nursess support older carers?

  • Help carers be aware they are a carer so they do not miss out on the support they have a right to, including a Carers Assessment
  • Help raise awareness of the support available both locally and nationally.
  • Ensure records are up to date and accurate in both the carer and cared for persons health record.

Are you and your team equipped to support carers?

Latest QNI Blogs on Carers

Resources

Useful Links

There are many local and national charities providing specific support and information for particular groups of unpaid carers for example:

Local Carers Service will support with specific individual requests for support.

If you want any further support on how community nurses can support carers please contact Fiona Rogers – Nursing Programmes Manager at the QNI.

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Ian Bailey from The QNI on Vimeo.

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