Consumer champion Which? Ranked Halton Borough Council’s area as the best in England for carers to find out the information they need. The report revealed that only 15 per cent of residents in the borough had difficulty accessing advice and support. Halton was followed by the London Borough of Redbridge (17%) with neighbours St Helens (18%) in the top-three areas.
The information came from a Which? analysis of most recent data from NHS statistics, collected by the Health and Social Care Information Centre. A spokesperson for Halton Borough Council, said “This is great news and shows that the ways we make information known to carers is working. We are not resting on our laurels, and will continue to look at ways to make our services more accessible and visible.”
The Council has taken a number of measures to make services easier for carers to access information and support:
- It pools money with NHS Halton CCG to provide services for carers.
- It jointly commissions Halton Carers Centre to identify new carers and provide information, advice and support to over 5,000 young and adult carers in Halton.
- The Council and Halton Carers Centre identified carers throughout the health and social care system – GP practices, hospitals, schools and social care teams.
- An average of 100 unpaid carers are identified per month in Halton due to increased carer awareness following regular publicity campaigns.
- The Council provided grants to a wide range of community groups who provide peer support for carers. This helps to support carers to have a life outside of caring.
- Since the Care Act was introduced in April 2014, Halton has also seen an increase in the number of carers being seen by the Initial Assessment Team.
In addition to the highlighted Which? report, carer-reported quality of life score, and carers reporting they had as much social contact as they would like, were both better than both the national and regional average scores.
Read more: www.which.co.uk/news/2016/01/unpaid-carers-struggle-to-find-the-right-information-431835/-Which?
To register at Halton Carers Centre or for more information about caring please contact Halton Carers Centre on 01928 580 182 or email help@haltoncarers.co.uk