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Advice and information for carers

Please note, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was formed in 2024 when Southern Health NHS Foundation Trust, Solent NHS Trust and some services from Isle of Wight NHS Foundation Trust and Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust merged to form a new organisation. 

You may find some documents reference our legacy organisations. New versions for Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare will be available soon.

A carer is anyone including children and adults who cares, unpaid, for a friend, partner or family member who due to illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem, addiction or other health and care need, cannot cope without their support.

If you are looking after a child, including your own child, who has special physical or mental health support needs, then you are also a carer.’ www.carers.org

A ‘young carer’ is defined in section 96 of the Children and Families Act 2014 as:

‘... a person under 18 who provides or intends to provide care for another person.  This relates to care for any family member who is physically or mentally ill, frail elderly, disabled or misuses alcohol or substances.’

Any one of us, including children and young adults, at any time could become a carer either on a short-term basis or for a longer period. It is also important to recognise that some carers will experience more complex situations such as caring for more than one person, for example a parent and a child (“sandwich caring”) or an older couple caring for each other (“mutual caring”).

If you're caring for someone, it is important you get the advice, information and support you need to help in your caring role. 

If you’re an adult carer of someone over the age of 18 who’s ill, disabled or elderly a carer’s assessment could help you. As a carer, you’ve got a legal right to an assessment of your own needs. It doesn’t matter if the person you care for doesn’t want their needs assessed. This assessment – which is free - is about you and what you need.

To get a carer’s assessment, contact adult social services at your local council and ask for one. The council, or from an organisation working with the council, will use the assessment to find out what help you need:

  • With caring
  • To look after your own health
  • To help balance caring with your life, work and family commitments.

If your circumstances change, you can ask for your assessment to be done again.

You can get a carer’s assessment whether you care for someone with a physical or a mental health problem. The assessment isn’t linked to Carer’s Allowance (financial support for carers). To find out about getting an assessment, you can: 

  • Speak to a member of our staff
  • Contact your local social services team
  • Contact Carers Direct by calling 0300 123 1053 (lines are open 9am-8pm Monday to Friday, 11am-4pm at weekends)
  • Visit Carers UK  

There are a range of benefits, tax credits and other financial support that you may be entitled to as a carer. The main benefit is called Carer's Allowance. It is a state benefit, which provides a weekly payment to support you in your caring role. To check the full set of criteria and whether you would qualify for Carer's Allowance, visit the DirectGov website. The Carers Trust website also has helpful information about who can claim this benefits. 

Details about other forms of financial support available for carers, and how to apply are on the DirectGov website.
 

A Carers Champion is someone who is fully integrated with the Triangle of Care principles and values, they understand what carers bring to a service users care and have that as their driving force. They are compassionate and understanding about a carers’ needs. A Carers Champion supports their colleagues to integrate and embed themselves in the Triangle of Care standards and Values.   

We are continually looking for ways to make our services the best they can be for all of our service users, families and carers. Your feedback on how we are doing will help us to achieve this. By listening carefully to you, we can better understand what you want and need and how we can best support you. By working together, we can bring about real and lasting improvements. We know from experience that the people who use our services are the true experts on how those services should be developed and delivered. Your views and experiences help us to improve services for everyone who uses them.

There are many different ways to be involved in improving and shaping our services. If you are interested in issues related to carers, you may wish to specifically contribute to Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare local carers groups.

The Recovery College takes an educational approach to equip you with the knowledge and skills to get on with your life, despite mental illness. The skills learned are relevant to all of us whether we’re health professionals, service users, or carers – The Recovery College welcomes all. If you’re a mental health professional, the courses on offer at The Recovery College are especially relevant and we encourage all staff working within our trusts mental health services to enrol.

Please visit Recovery College for more information.

Sibs is the only UK charity representing the needs of siblings of disabled people. There are over half a million young siblings and at least 1.7 million adults siblings in the UK, who have grown up with a disabled brother or sister.

Siblings have a lifelong need for information, they often experience social and emotional isolation, and have to cope with difficult situations. They also want to have positive relationships with their disabled brothers and sisters and to be able to choose the role they play in future care and support.

Sibs mission

Sibs aims to enhance the lives of siblings by providing them with information and support, and by influencing service provision throughout the UK.

To visit the website please click here About Sibs - Sibs

 

There are lots of organisations and charities who help to support carers:

Contact us

Carers Involvement team 
Email:carer.involvement@southernhealth.nhs.uk

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