Getting regular support

Daytime support (weekdays)

There may be many things that carers require support on in relation to the person they care for. During weekday office hours (9am-5pm) carers can seek support from:

• The healthcare professional of the person you care for
• Your local team – usually based at the place providing a service to the person you care for
• Your GP surgery – they can also register you as a carer
• Your local council – details in our further resources area: Further resources
• The organisations listed in our further resources area: Further resources.

Regular support for mental health issues

• Contact your CPFT care co-ordinator. If you are already receiving support from mental health services, the first point of contact should be your care co-ordinator. Your care plan will contain information on how to contact them. If they are not available, ask to speak to the clinician on duty.
• Your GP surgery - they can also register you as a carer.

Carer survey
Hearing about your experiences of our services is really important to us and helps us know where we need to improve so we can provide better care and treatment on an ongoing basis.
 
You can tell us what you think about the service you are receiving by completing our short carer survey. There are only five questions and we don’t ask for any personal details. Your responses are anonymous.

To access the survey, visit the Carer pages of CPFT website at https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/carers or ask a member of staff. 

Thank you for your help!

Out-of-hours support

Out-of-hours support for physical health problems:

Emergency information 

• Dial 999 for emergency services.
• Contact the emergency doctor, who is available from your GP surgery.
• Dial 111 for NHS 111 service and speak to a highly trained adviser, supported by healthcare professionals. NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from landlines and mobile phones.

Non-emergency information 
Dial 111 for NHS 111 service and speak to a highly trained adviser, supported by healthcare professionals. NHS 111 is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free from 
landlines and mobile phones.

Visit NHS Choices website - www.nhs.uk - for more information and search 111.

Walk-in centres
These are usually managed by a nurse and are available to everyone. Patients do not need an appointment. Most centres are open 365 days a year and outside office hours. Some newly opened centres may offer different opening hours during their first few months. For more information and to find a local centre, please visit the NHS Choices website - www.nhs.uk

Out-of-hours support for mental health issues

Emergency information

• Dial 999 for emergency services where the patient is at immediate risk.
• Call 111 and press option 2 for the First Response Service - a 24-hour service for people in a mental health crisis. This service is for anyone, of any age, living in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. Specially-trained mental health staff will speak to you and discuss with you your mental health care needs.

Building recovery and resilience – supporting self-management and wellbeing

Building recovery and resilience is an active process that involves all staff and people who use our services in working together to find good solutions, as it states in the current strategy:  “We will adopt the principle, in all our services, of empowering patients to achieve independence and the best possible life chances, removing dependence and giving them and their families (in the case of children) control over their care”.  

This process can be seen as the glue within the Trust’s organisational strategy: bringing together ideas around spirituality, volunteering, community involvement, and social capital, in a way that enables everyone involved in CPFT to bring the idea to life and to ensure the services that are offered meet these aspirations. Above all, building recovery and resilience requires us to work collaboratively: staff with patients, service users and carers, CPFT with other organisations in the NHS, and with the local authorities and the third sector. While some of the language of recovery and resilience may differ between these sectors, the underpinning principles and the will to promote health and wellbeing across the area is common to all.

Care plans

A care plan is a written agreement that describes the support that someone using our services will receive, from whom and when, including information on what to do in the event of a crisis. A care plan should make sense, be helpful and reflect what the person receiving services thinks and feels. Families and carers should be involved as much as possible in the development of a care plan. As a carer or family member you should be given a copy of the plan and should be invited to regular meetings to discuss the plan, unless the person you care for has not given his or her consent. If you are concerned that the care plan is not being followed, or if you have not been invited to any meetings or you are not being involved as much as you would like, you should speak to the care co-ordinator/care team or the healthcare professional involved with caring for the person you care for. Both you and the person you care for can ask for the care plan to be reviewed at any time. 

Common-sense confidentiality 

The Trust has produced a useful guide called Common-sense and confidentiality: A guide for staff, service users and carers. This is available on our website.  

Alternatively, you can request a printed copy by emailing us at triangleofcare@cpft.nhs.uk. The checklist below is taken from this guide, which is based on the leaflet produced by the ‘Partners in Care’ campaign and published by the Royal College of Psychiatrists www.rcpsych.ac.uk 

It is designed to assist staff to work more closely with carers within the boundaries of current legislation and to help carers understand their rights. https://www.cpft.nhs.uk/carers

Where possible, carers are given general factual information, both verbal and written about:

The diagnosis

• What behaviour is likely to occur and how to manage it
• Medication – benefits and possible side-effects
• Contact details of the care co-ordinator
• Local inpatient and community services
• The Care Programme Approach (CPA).

Carers are helped to understand

• The present situation
• Any confidentiality restrictions requested by the service user
• The service user’s treatment plan and its aims
• Any written care plan, crisis plan or recovery programme
• The role of each professional involved in the service user’s care
• How to access help – including out-of-hours services.

Carers are given

• The opportunity to see a professional on their own
• The right to their own confidentiality when talking to a professional
• Encouragement to feel a valued member of the care team
• Confidence to voice their views and any concerns they may have
• Emotional and practical support
• An assessment of their own needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Understanding the care we provide

If the person I care for withdraws consent, can I still get support from you?
Yes. Whilst there may be certain pieces of information we are prevented from sharing with you, we can continue to support you as the carer and signpost you to additional support. Even if we cannot give you certain pieces of information it is very important to us that you keep in contact with us and continue to feedback to us any concerns you may have about the person you care for.

What can I do if I feel that the service is not involving me appropriately in the care that is being provided?
It is important that any concerns you have are raised with the health professional in the first instance. If you are still dissatisfied, you can get additional advice from the Patient Advice and 
Liaison Service (PALS) or Carers Trust - see our resources page for details: Further resources