The implementation of a new joint carers strategy

Last updated: 24 April 2024

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Lead Organisation

Nottinghamshire County Council

Project contact

Anna Oliver

anna.oliver@nottscc.gov.uk

The new Carers Strategy was fully co-produced by carers with lived experience along with other key Stakeholders.

At the heart of the strategy are the voices of carers with lived experience, based on what ‘good’ looks like to them using the Think Local Act Personal (TLAP) approach of producing ‘I’ statements.

Partners responded to the ‘I’ statements and produced ‘We’ statements of what we will do to meet these needs. This has produced a framework for us to work jointly to improve how we support carers, ensuring we review and change our practice to deliver better services, improve identification and support carers at an early stage, to have better conversations and to embed #NHSThinkCarer with every contact.

We will evidence changes in practice by embedding the objectives of the strategy within existing quality assurance and practice frameworks, and the testing of this by carers.

The new strategy has already started to impact on:

  • Building relationships and working in partnership with carers
  • Raising awareness and getting teams to ‘think carer’
  • Service delivery of carer support services with co-designed specifications and continuous coproduction through development and delivery
  • Ensuring carers are listened to as experts. This has shaped the strategy and how this is implemented across the care system
Partners

Nottinghamshire County Council, Nottingham City Council, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire ICB

Project duration

The life of the strategy is 2023 to 2028

Key beneficiaries

All age carers

The implementation of a new joint carers strategy

Why we started this initiative

Nottinghamshire County Council took the lead initiative on this as the previous carers strategy had expired. We also heard from carers as part of our ‘Big Conversation’ listening events.

We identified that this would be a great opportunity to work in partnership with our ICS partners (Nottingham City LA and the ICB) to produce a joint strategy so that we had an agreed joint initiative to provide better support to all carers within the health and care system. The brief for producing the strategy also required that this was fully co-produced with carers.

Our goals

The ultimate goal is to improve the way we provide support to carers across the Nottinghamshire health and social care system, which includes:

• Having better conversations with carers and ensuring we listen to what they tell us so they don’t have to repeat their stories.

• Provide carers with the right support, information, advice and guidance when they need it.

• Provide access to a flexible range of carer break options so carers can have breaks when they need them.

• Ensuring there is a more consistent service access across City and County by working together on a collective approach.

How we’re implementing it

• By adopting the ‘I’ and ‘We’ statements within the strategy as a framework, changes in practice will be evidenced against this. Teams and services will adopt these and embed them into their existing quality assurance processes.

• We have involved carers in the co-design of carer support services and we included them in the tender evaluation process.

• Ongoing co-design and co-production with carers is in place to implement the strategy as this work progresses.

• Developing the digital offer for carers and use of Technology Enabled Care.

A summary of this is provided below:

• Co-production can take longer, so ensure you build this into your project initiative timelines.

• Don’t start with a blank sheet of paper – have some ideas to work with. Take a ‘strength-based approach’ and review what is working well and not so well (or at all). Refine and build on those things that do work well.

• Look for inspiration from what others are doing. Are there any good ideas/practices you can adopt?

• Identify and involve carers from the very beginning – this can take some time to find carers who want to and have capacity to be involved (they are out there!).

• Make sure that you are clear with roles and responsibilities within the project.

• Ensure you keep everyone involved in the loop – good communication is key!

• Ensure you have a project sponsor who is a senior leader who can influence change at a higher level with their peers and across partners.

• Let people know what you are doing and provide updates.

Watch this video to hear from some the Carers involved in the Nottinghamshire Carers Strategy