NHS Consitution recognises carers as partners in care

The new NHS Constitution (England) has finally shown that the NHS recognises the huge value of unpaid care given by giving carers prominence as partners in care.

We welcome this as the beginning of a culture change in the NHS towards valuing the extraordinary caring contribution of ordinary people. It builds on the NHS commitments to carers, including £150m new money for health trusts, set out in the new ten year National Carers Strategy and in health trust budgets from April 1st.

The handbook accompanying the Constitution talks about the need to treat “family members and carers as experts and care partners” and that support mechanisms to enable carers to develop their skills and confidence are “particularly pertinent where carers participate in providing aspects of care such as rehabilitation exercises, wound or drug management and manual handling.”

However as Alex Fox, Director of Policy at The Princess Royal Trust for Carers advises, recognition of unpaid carers as vital partners in care will require a huge cultural shift within the NHS.

“The Constitution is only the beginning of a challenging process. There is currently a huge disparity in levels of funding for carers’ services by health trusts in England, with some still spending nothing on carers support. We hope that the introduction of a requirement for local health trusts to work in partnership with councils on supporting carers, which was included in the NHS Operating Framework for the coming year, will start to address this problem.”

The NHS has also pledged to share more information with carers, after recognising the frustration of many families who have not been able to get the information they need to care for loved ones after discharge. One of the Constitution’s Guiding Principles says “NHS services must reflect the needs and preferences of patients, their families and their carers” and ensure carers where appropriate will “be involved in and consulted on all decisions” about the patient’s care and treatment.

Whilst accepting this should benefit carers, Alex Fox warned that more must still be done.

“The issue of confidentiality and data protection has been a stumbling block for carer involvement in the past, with carers often feeling that some NHS staff do not properly engage with the information needs of carers, despite those carers often having a 24/ 7 involvement in the care of their relative. A balance needs to be found between two staff obligations set out in the Constitution handbook:

You have a duty to protect the confidentiality of personal information that you hold.
You should strive to involve patients, their families and carers in the services you provide.”

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Royal College of Psychiatrists, in their partnership, Partners in Care, produced some valuable resources on information sharing and confidentiality which we would like to see more widely adopted: www.partnersincare.co.uk

The Constitution and handbook are at: www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/NHSConstitution/index.htm