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ITEM EX7

EXECUTIVE - 1 JUNE 2004

OXFORDSHIRE CARERS’ STRATEGY

Report by Director for Social & Health Care

Introduction

  1. This report sets out the background and development of the Oxfordshire Carers’ Strategy (Annex 1) and seeks approval for the Strategy and its implementation across Directorates.

    2. Background

  2. A carer is defined as a relative, partner or friend who helps to support another person of any age who needs help to remain in the community due to physical or mental illness or disability, learning disability or frailty. A carer does not receive pay or provide care as part of a voluntary organisation. The carer may provide practical or emotional help or supervision. Carers may or may not live with the person for whom they care.

    3. National Context

  3. The Government published "Caring for Carers" in 1999, which for the first time established a national carers strategy, recognising the vital contribution carers make to the people they care for and to our communities. Its central tenet was that "All organisations involved with caring must now focus not just on the client, patient or user – but must include the carer."

  4. The National Strategy highlighted three key approaches:

    • Information for carers about the needs of the person they care for and about services and help available to them.

    • Support for carers from their communities around services for themselves and the people for whom they care and in the development of flexible employment policies. Carers need to be involved in planning and providing services.

    • Care for Carers, so their own health needs are met and their wellbeing is supported, with appropriate housing, flexible employment, adequate income, and social inclusion.

  1. The Strategy announced the establishment of the Carers Special Grant to provide new funding to local authorities until 2002 to help carers take a break from caring. This has now been extended until 2006.

  2. Carers are targeted in the National Service Frameworks (NSFs) published by the Government for different care groups. NSFs are effectively strategies for service delivery and development that set out standards for services. The Mental Health NSF has a specific standard for carers and the NSFs for Older People, for Coronary Heart Disease, Diabetes, and Cancer all emphasise that support to and involvement of carers is integral to the way that services are provided. Carers are core to the Patient and Public Involvement Strategy in the NHS and to the work that the Directorate does on user and carer involvement in service planning and delivery.

    3. The Oxfordshire Context

  3. Most care in the community is provided by family and friends. The 2001 Census identified 53,435 unpaid carers in Oxfordshire with 8355 carers providing more than 50 hours care a week. The Census recorded more than 1300 young carers under 18 in Oxfordshire, an underestimate due to the exclusion of parents with drug and alcohol addiction. Local research (Partridge 2001) suggests that 3,900 5–19 year olds have some caring responsibilities where parents have mental health and substance misuse problems. Assuming the number of carers increases in line with the population, there will be nearly 56,000 carers in Oxfordshire by 2009, a rise of 6% with the greatest numbers in the 55-64 age group. As many people providing care do not identify themselves as carers, the numbers could in reality be substantially greater.

    4. Social & Health Care Priorities

  4. The Directorate values carers and recognises that most care in the community is provided by informal carers and that by supporting carers it is helping to support users and to contribute to the well-being of the whole community. It supports the National Carers Strategy, "Caring About Carers", has been developing the multi-agency Oxfordshire Carers Strategy, and is preparing a commissioning strategy for carers. It acknowledges that carers have needs in their own right for support, good information, and care for their own health and wellbeing and that we must work in partnership with other OCC Directorates, as well as with the NHS and voluntary organisations, to provide that support.

  5. The Social & Health Care Directorate funds and supports a range of services through the Carers Special Grant and its base budget. The Carers’ grant for 2004/05 totals £1.237million. Provision is through the voluntary sector and the Directorate’s own service provision. The cornerstones of the Directorate’s approach is:

    • Develop the multi-agency Oxfordshire Carers’ Strategy (the subject of this report);

    • The commissioning strategy covering the development of carers services;

    • Acknowledging that carers have needs in their own right for support, information and for care for their own health and support for their well-being;

    • We have to work in partnership across the County Council, with District Councils, the NHS and the voluntary sector.

  1. The services that the Directorate provides or supports cover information and support for carers, the involvement of carers in consultation and advice on service development and services that give carers a break from caring. In summary, the services that are provided cover the following.

    • Three Carers Centres (Oxford City, South & Vale, and North & West) provide free, direct access services for carers and young carers and signposting information across the county. The Carers Centre (North & West) is celebrating its founding ten years ago as the first Princess Royal Trust Carers Centre in the country.

    • Carers views are represented and dialogue facilitated by The Oxfordshire Carers Forum, Age Concern, and via the consultation and public involvement arrangements that both the County Council and the NHS have in place.

    • A Young Carers Strategic Worker has been funded by ‘Quality Protects’ funds to work countywide with the Directorate and the three Carers Centres to develop awareness and support for Young Carers across the statutory and voluntary sectors.

    • The Joint Carers Strategy Steering Group formed in 1999 provides a joint forum on carers issues and works to develop a strategy for all agencies, statutory and voluntary in Oxfordshire and to contribute to the direction of the Carers Special Grant.

    • Across the county there are breaks for carers of adults with mental illness, learning disabilities and physical disabilities; residential and sitting breaks for carers of older people and other relief to care services across all groups.

    • There are developments for parent carers of children with disabilities through the Resource Centres and there are two additional Relief to Care projects. Developments include a scheme for signing classes for parent carers of children with profound hearing loss.

    • Service are being developed to help black and minority ethnic carers access services countywide.

  1. The Carers Special Grant has also supported the work of the Joint Carers’ Strategy Group formed in 1999 to provide a joint forum on carers’ issues and work on the development of strategy for all agencies, statutory and voluntary in Oxfordshire, and to contribute to the development of services through the use of the Carers’ Special Grant.

    2. Oxfordshire’s Strategy for Carers’ Services

  2. The Joint Carers’ Strategy Steering Group has developed a Strategy that is intended for all agencies across the County. This is set out at Annex 1 and is being or has been considered by the PCTs and NHS Trusts across the county.

  3. It is proposed that the Oxfordshire Carers’ Strategy be approved by the Executive. For the immediate future this will continue to shape and inform service developments in Social & Health Care. It is proposed that as resources allow work is undertaken through Social & Health Care with all of the County Council’s Directorates to support the implementation of the strategy across all services. A report on how this could be implemented could be made to the Executive in the autumn. Directorates’ impact on carers in different ways and to varying degrees. Implementation would mean all Directorates involving carers in the development of services which affect carers and the people for whom they care.

  4. Examples of how this could impact are in Learning & Culture where carers’ needs would be taken into account, including parent carers of children with disabilities and young carers, when planning and delivering services. Opportunities for e-learning, training, education, and employment would be made accessible for carers who are often isolated by their caring roles.

  5. Any service in contact with the public would provide accessible information on services which may affect carers and the people for whom they care. They would signpost carers to Social & Health Care for carers assessments and to the Carers Centres for support, advice and information. Library services in particular would provide a range of information for carers to access, including carers who are isolated. Websites would be linked to information for carers. The County Council could support the many working carers in its employment by further developing its work life balance policies, developing systems to enable carers to retain or enter employment and signposting employees who are carers to local carer support.

    6. RECOMMENDATIONS

  6. The Executive is RECOMMENDED to:

          1. approve the Oxfordshire Carers’ Strategy; and

          2. agree that a further report be brought to the Executive on the implementation of the Carers’ Strategy across the County Council’s Directorates.

CHARLES WADDICOR
Director for Social & Health Care

Background papers: Nil

Contact Officer: Nick Welch, Head of Service Planning and Partnership Tel: 01865 815714

May 2004

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