Carers strategy

Carer and service user

This page is a summary of Salford's Carers Strategy and action plan. It tells you how we plan to make life better for Salford's 20,000 carers. We have updated the action plan for 2011 to 2012, which you can find at the bottom of this page.

What is the Salford Carers Strategy?

The strategy was first developed by carers in 1998 and identified a number of themes which carers felt would improve support and information and give more recognition to the issues facing carers in Salford.

The Salford Carers Strategy 2008-2011 is a plan of how we will continue to meet the needs of carers in Salford. We wrote the strategy with carers, who told us about nine important issues:

Information
Primary care (eg GP surgeries)
Breaks and support
Having more control over support and care
Carers assessments
Local support
Reaching all carers
Employment and training
Working in partnership

What will the strategy do?

We plan to do even more to support carers and we have agreed dates when we should do these things. Below are just some of the things we plan to do.

We have we done

Carers web pages improved to provide up to date local and national information to carers
Carers emergency scheme launched giving carers the peace of mind that a plan will be put into action in the event of the carer having an emergency
A training programme has been rolled out enabling carers to undergo training in a variety of areas that will be useful for them in their caring role and also to help carers get back into work
Funding agreed for a support group for Chinese carers
Salford Carers Strategy Board established including carers and representatives from carers’ services, Salford City Council and NHS Salford. This board oversees the strategy ensuring that actions are met
We have developed a greater understanding of local support for carers and the areas we need to develop
Funding agreed for a carers support worker to focus on carers issues around primary care
Improved the help and advice available to carers around employment
Introduced carers personal budgets
Space for carers information now available in around 30 GP's surgeries
Improved carers information pack available from Salford Carers Centre

Who makes sure these things happen?

We’ve set up a carers strategy board which includes carers and representatives from carers’ services, Salford City Council and Salford Primary Care Trust.