I Am A Family Member, Friend Or Someone Providing Support Or Care To A Person With Care And Support Needs
Information for carers
Adults who need Care and support often need a mixture of practical, financial and emotional support to help them to manage their lives and be independent. These adults can include older people, people with a disability or long-term illness, people with mental health problems, and carers. When people need care and support their needs are assessed to see what services they may require, and where eligible, to assess the allocation of funds required to enable them to obtain care and support. people’s needs. This could include care home, home care, personal assistants, day services, or the provision of aids and adaptations.
Jargon Buster
A national organisation, Think Local Act Personal launched a Jargon Buster in 2013 to help people understand the words and phrases used in health and social care. it can be found by following this Link to Jargon Buster
Concerns for someone’s ability to cope at home
If you have concerns about someone who is struggling at home with day to day matters and live in Worcestershire more information and advice can be found by following this link concerns for someone’s ability to cope at home
Support for Carers
The WSAB also recognise that people who provide care for their loved one can at times need support. We work closely with Worcestershire Association of Carers (WAC) who provide a range of services and information for carers. For more information go to Worcestershire Association for Carers website
We have worked closely with WAC to produce the following Carers Rights Briefing. This provides links to information on safeguarding alongside other useful information.
Support for Armed Services Veterans
If the person you care for has been in the armed services there are organisations, at a local and national level, that can provide additional support. Further information can be found by following the links below:
Royal British Legion | Armed Forces Charity
Homepage – Worcestershire – (britishlegion.org.uk)
Op-COURAGE The Veterans Mental Health and Wellbeing Service
Looking for residential care
Worcestershire County Council provide the following page which gives advice and guidance on looking at supported care options in Worcestershire
Link to WCC Care Home and supported living page
Transition from Childrens Services to Adult Services
The following page provide advice for young people between 16 and 25, and those who care for them. Alongside links to a toolkit and information page, it identifies learning from Safeguarding Adults Reviews on the application of the Mental Capacity Act legal framework, which should be applied when a person becomes 18 and has a link to some local podcast which have been developed to provide further information on this.
Link to WSAB webpage on Transition
Who needs safeguarding?
The Care Act (2014) introduced national eligibility criteria to safeguard adults with care and support needs. Adult Safeguarding duties apply to adults who are 18 years old and above and has three areas of criteria:
The adult
- has needs for care and support (whether or not the local authority is meeting any of those needs) and;
- is experiencing, or at risk of, abuse or neglect; and
- as a result of those care and support needs is unable to protect themselves from either the risk of, or the experience of abuse or neglect
For more information on the types of abuse and neglect follow this link who needs safeguarding
If you are not sure whether the situation is a safeguarding concern or a quality issue the WSAB have designed the following leaflet, in collaboration with our Carers Reference Group, to help you consider who to raise you concern with.
Link to WSAB Demystifying Safeguarding Leaflet V2 ACCESSIBLE
Link to WSAB Demystifying Safeguarding Leaflet V2
Raising a Concern
If you have concerns about abuse and neglect for yourself or someone you know, please consider doing one of the following things:
- if it is an emergency dial 999
- to report a crime or potential crime to the Police you can phone the non-emergency number 101
- to report an adult safeguarding concern please call 01905 768053
- if you would like safeguarding advice please phone the Adult Safeguarding Team on 01905 843189 (note this number does not accept referrals)
Further information can be found by following this link: I Have A Concern….
Support in a mental health Crisis
If someone you care for, are experiencing something that makes you feel unsafe, distressed, or worried about their mental health, you can now contact the Herefordshire and Worcestershire 24 hour urgent mental health helpline by calling NHS 111 and selecting the mental health option. Further details on what will happen when you make such a call can be found on Herefordshire and Worcestershire Health and Care Trusts Website by following the link below
Link to local information on mental health support
Fire Safety
We also work closely with Herefordshire and Worcestershire Fire Service. Below are links to their guidance on fire safety in the home:
They also provide fire safety visits to a vulnerable persons home. Details of this can be found by following the link below::
Home Fire Safety Visit | Hereford & Worcester Fire and Rescue Service (hwfire.org.uk)
Getting Involved
Worcestershire Association of Carers have a reference group which is represented on the WSAB. We are keen to hear from people who support people with Care and Support needs about their experiences and any challenges, particular if they involve safeguarding. for more information please follow this link Getting Involved