Hillside Practice in Skelton is one of the latest GP surgeries in South Tees to achieve Carer Friendly GP Practice status.
The team worked closely with Susan Lee, Primary Care Coordinator at Teesside Mind, to reach this milestone.
When Hillside began reviewing its Carer Register in April this year, 388 patients had been identified as carers. Following a focused effort during national Carers Week in June, that number rose to 647, an increase of around 67%. The practice also identified 12 young carers, who are now officially registered.
All patients identified as carers are coded on the clinical system, with an Angel icon used to represent their status, and all staff are trained to recognise this.
To achieve Carer Friendly recognition, the surgery has introduced a range of improvements, including:
- Inviting all coded carers for a Carer Health Check, along with any other eligible checks, during their birthday month
- Offering double appointments for unpaid carers and the people they care for, with flexible scheduling from reception staff
- Ensuring all staff complete carer awareness training to help identify carers, better understand the challenges they face, and know how and where to signpost them for support.
- Clearly recording carer status in referral letters to secondary care
- Appointing two Carer Ambassadors - Jenna Harris (Non-Clinical) and Rachel Spayne (Clinical) - who support unpaid carers registered with the practice, as well as staff who are carers
Practice Manager, Sheila Bladen, said:
“The practice team lead by one of our Carer Ambassadors, Jenna have done a terrific job of identifying many previously unrecognised carers. We are now able to integrate these carers into our register enabling both our administrative and clinical teams to offer and deliver wellbeing care and support in many areas to our carer's community.”
Susan Lee added:
“An incredible amount of time goes into achieving Carer Friendly status, it’s not something that can be done overnight. It requires real commitment from every member of staff, but the results speak for themselves. For Hillside to identify 259 hidden carers on top of the 388 they already knew about shows just how vital this work is.
“GPs are an important first point of contact for encouraging carers to identify themselves and are well placed to recognise and support patients who have caring responsibilities. The more we can do to support carers and protect their own health and wellbeing, the better it is in the long term for the carer, the person they care for, and the wider health and social care system.”
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