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Engagement on our new Carers and Young Carers Strategy

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Consultation has concluded

Have your say and help us develop our new Carers and Young Carers Strategy for Barnet


Overview

We are working with Barnet Carers Centre to develop a new Carers and Young Carers Strategy that will seek to improve support services for carers across the council. We would like to involve our carers and young carers in the development of this new strategy.

Who is a carer? A carer is a person who looks after or supports someone else who needs help with their day-to-day life because of issues such as their age, a long-term illness, disability, mental health, or substance

Have your say and help us develop our new Carers and Young Carers Strategy for Barnet


Overview

We are working with Barnet Carers Centre to develop a new Carers and Young Carers Strategy that will seek to improve support services for carers across the council. We would like to involve our carers and young carers in the development of this new strategy.

Who is a carer? A carer is a person who looks after or supports someone else who needs help with their day-to-day life because of issues such as their age, a long-term illness, disability, mental health, or substance misuse. Each caring situation is unique, and every carer has different needs and priorities.


What are we proposing

We want to develop and improve support services for carers across the borough and would like to make sure that their voices are heard. We are aiming to work with our carers to create a shared vision for carers in Barnet. Feedback from this engagement will help create our new Carers Strategy and make sure that our new priorities are the ones that local carers in our community want.

We want to hear from carers about their caring role, gain a deeper understanding of the issues and challenges that may face carers and find out what would support them in their role.

Through pro-active engagement with residents who are carers and community organisations, we aim to co-produce a shared vision for carers in Barnet.

Feedback from this engagement will inform our new Carers Strategy and ensure new priorities around carers services are developed in collaboration with carers in our community, including those who are less likely to use carers support services.


Who we want to involve

We are particularly keen to involve carers from different communities and cultures, demographic backgrounds, and from a range of different caring areas. We are keen to hear from young carers, young adult carers, parent carers, and dementia carers.


How to have your say

Complete our online survey

We are keen to hear your views and involve carers in developing our strategy:

If you would like to request a paper copy of the questionnaire or another format, please:

  • email engage.adults@barnet.gov.uk, or
  • write to us at Adults and Health Joint Commissioning Team, London Borough of Barnet, 2 Bristol Avenue, Colindale, NW9 4EW.

If you would like someone to help you complete the questionnaire or need more information, please contact us using one of the above methods.


Take part in our group discussions

Barnet Carers Centre is also running a series of groups discussions with a cross section of carers and will ensure all types of carers and communities are represented. If you do get invited to take part in these group discussions, please take the opportunity to attend and have your say.


What happens after the engagement closes?

Feedback from the co-production and engagement activity will inform our new Carers Strategy. We will publish the draft Carers Strategy on this web page early in 2023.

Consultation has concluded

  • We asked, you said, we did

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    We asked

    We asked for your views on the support services on offer for unpaid carers in Barnet. Through pro-active engagement with residents and community organisations, our aim was to co-produce a shared vision for carers in Barnet.


    You said

    We received 270 responses to the online survey. A further 30 carers and young carers were engaged via remote and in-person focus groups, led by Barnet Carers Centre.

    Feedback from the above co-production and engagement activity has informed the development of our new Carers Strategy.

    Key themes from the survey feedback are as follows:

    • carers have struggled during the pandemic - often not being informed when there is a change to the care and support of the cared for person (e.g., plan for the reopening of day opportunities)
    • the majority of respondents to the survey have reported caring for over 10 years and spend over 21 hours a week on average in their caring role
    • young carers often take on huge amounts of responsibility and need support to balance competing responsibilities and demands. Priorities for young people included pursuing their education, timely mental health and wellbeing support as well as time for themselves and socialising
    • carers value activities that enable them to have regular breaks from their caring responsibilities to support balancing their caring roles with their own personal lives and interests
    • parent carers have emerged as a prominent carers group.

    We did

    The co-production and engagement feedback will be included in the new Carers Strategy 2023 – 2028 and have informed the new priorities and outcomes in the strategy. The next step is to translate this strategy into action so that it makes a real and lasting difference to the health and wellbeing of carers of all ages.

    A Carers and Young Carers Strategy Implementation board will be developed to have oversight of strategy implementation including the action plan. Actions to deliver the strategy will be informed by feedback and recommendations from carers.

    We will be publishing the new Carers Strategy and carrying out another round of consultation in February 2023.