Do you care for a family member, friend, or neighbour?
Would you like to meet up with people in a similar situation?
Join our friendly group for a cuppa and a chat where you can access
information & advice from our staff on how we can support you as a carer.
Meet and chat to lots of service providers
Friday 12th July 2024
2:30 – 4:30pm
Ffrwnes Fach, Park Street, Llanelli, SA15 3YE
Free taster sessions including:
For more information call Lucy on 07789 793228 or lucy.cummings@planed.org.uk
During Carers Week 2024, the Carers Support West Wales team shared their latest promotional bilingual videos promoting the services available on their regional website, Carers Support West Wales (CSWW).
The CSWW website supports the provision and accessibility of consistent carer specific information, assistance and advice for unpaid carers in the three counties. CSWW is divided into three distinct sections, allowing carers to easily navigate the platform and explore information locally and regionally.
For more information, please visit carerssupportwestwales.org or contact info@carerssupportwestwales.org
Hywel Dda University Health Board, in partnership with Dementia UK, provide a specialist service for carers of people living with dementia who are experiencing difficulties as a result of their caring role.
The team covers Carmarthenshire, Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire with a focus on delivering person–centred and relationship-centred dementia care.
The West Wales Admiral Nurse Service provides practical advice and emotional and psychological support from diagnosis to post-bereavement, helping people to learn coping strategies and come to terms with the diagnosis. The service can help carers to navigate health and social care systems; provide education on dementia, signpost carers to other services and support carers to develop coping strategies.
Admiral Nurses support people at difficult times in their dementia journey, including when the condition progresses, or when tough decisions need to be made, such as a transition into residential care.
Part of the role of an Admiral Nurse is to deliver specialist interventions to carers and one particular intervention we offer is the Strategies for relatives programme (START), this intervention aims to provide carers with coping strategies and has been proven to reduce depression and anxiety for family carers of people with dementia when measured at eight months and two years after they had received the intervention. We have delivered 106 individual START sessions either 1-1 or in a group setting.
One of the carers who recently attended a START group said this:
“The START programme made me feel very supported and cared about. The Admiral Nurses were kind and very helpful. They treated us with compassion and understanding. I cannot rate them and the START course highly enough. Meeting other carers was really helpful too. We got along really well and supported one another. It’s so important not to feel you are the only one caring for someone with dementia. It’s good to feel you are not alone and that is what the START programme did for me. Thank you.”
If you are a carer of someone living with dementia and would like to be referred to the service, please contact your health or social care professional who can make a referral for you.
More information about the charity Dementia UK can be found here: https://www.dementiauk.org/
Charlie Duhig
Admiral Nurse Clinical Lead.
Carmarthen
14:00 – 16:00
Every Monday
8-10 Woods Row, Carmarthen, SA31 1BX
Whitland
10:00 -12:00
First Friday of Every Month
Whitland Town Hall, SA34 0AA
Llanelli
10:00 – 12:00
Second Tuesday of Every Month
Lantern Centre, SA15 3BB
Llandovery
12:00 – 14:00
Last Thursday of Every Month
Our Lady Catholic Church Hall, SA20 0BD
Ammanford
10:00 – 12:00
Third Wednesday of Every Month
Ty Amman, SA18 2NA
Tumble
10:00 – 12:00
Third Tuesday of Every Month
Tumble Hall, SA14 6HR
It takes two years on average for someone to identify themselves as a carer. Many people consider caring as part and parcel of family life and see themselves primarily as a partner, wife, son, sibling, cousin, parent or a close friend. As a result they might not see the need to identify themselves separately as a carer.
But identifying as an unpaid carer can bring benefits such as access to support services, information, validation and access to carers rights.
Overall, identifying as a carer and accessing support can help to enhance wellbeing and many carers feel a greater sense of fulfilment when their role is recognised and valued.
The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 came into force on the 6th April 2016.
The Act in Wales applies to people in need, of any age and introduces equivalent rights for carers to those they care for.
If you provide unpaid care for someone you are entitled to a Carers Needs Assessment whether or not you live with the person who you care for, and you can have an assessment regardless of whether the person you care for has had their own assessment, or whether the person you care for is having social care support.
The purpose of a Carers Needs Assessment is to find out what your needs as a Carer are and to help you to access services or support that you may need to help support your wellbeing while you carry out your caring role.
The local council, usually a Social Worker, will carry out the Carers Needs Assessment and there is a clear legal duty on the local council to consider the following:
A Carers Assessment could result in a Care & Support Plan to help you manage your caring role including accessing breaks from caring.
On 6 April, the Carer’s Leave Act 2023 will come into force: a significant step forward for carers’ employment rights. This new legislation will give employees who are unpaid carers up to five days’ unpaid leave from work a year in support of their caring responsibilities. The regulations have now been approved by both the House of Commons and the House of Lords, paving the way for them to be implemented across England, Scotland and Wales.
The regulations confirm that to be entitled, employees need to be providing long term care – the definition of which is clearly set out in the law – and that the appropriate notice period an employee needs to give to take the leave is twice the length of time that needs to be taken in advance of the earliest day of leave. Employees will not be required to notify their employer in writing regarding their request to take Carer’s Leave, although they can do so if they wish to. Importantly, employees taking Carer’s Leave will have the same employment protections as associated with other forms of family related leave (eg, maternity, paternity, adoption, parental bereavement, shared parental and parental leave).
This includes protection from dismissal or detriment because of taking or seeking Carer’s Leave. Carers UK say “While this is a major step forward towards improving the lives of people juggling paid work and caring responsibilities, we know that this is just the beginning. We will look to immediately build on this success and will continue to campaign for more support for carers who are in work as well as those seeking to return to employment”.
Eligibility:
To be entitled to Carer’s Leave, you must:
Quote:
One working carer said:
“Without the support I received from my employers and colleagues, it would have meant finishing work. It was as stark as that. And that decision would’ve come with huge implications.”
Having a Carer’s ID or Emergency Card can have benefits for you and the person you care for. If you are a carer in Carmarthenshire, you can apply for a Carers Emergency Card. If you are involved in an accident or emergency or are seriously ill the card will alert others that you have someone at home who cannot manage without your help. Having a Carers Emergency Card can have benefits for you and the person you care for including, Carer discounts and peace of mind for you and the person you care for.
You can apply today by following the link: For me – Delta Wellbeing
Having easy access to useful contacts can help reduce what might be a stressful situation. Here is our list of need-to-know contacts:
| Mental Health Helpline for Wales | 24-hour helpline 0800 132 737 Or text help to 81066 |
| Age Cymru Mental Health Support | 08000 223444 |
| Carmarthenshire Community Mental Health Team | 01267 236017 |
| Mind Info Line | 0300 123 3393 |
| Samaritans | 116 123 |
| Iawn | www.iawn.wales.nhs.uk |
| Carers Trust Crossroads West Wales | 0300 0200 002 www.ctcww.org.uk |
| West Wales Action for Mental Health | 01267 245572 |
| Stroke Association | 07799 436050 |
| Age Cymru Dyfed | 03333 447 874 |
| Alzheimers Society | 0333 150 3456 |
| Care & Repair | 01554 744300 |
| Mencap | community.partners@mencap.org.uk |
| Adferiad Carers Information Service | 0333 121 1332 |
| Delta Wellbeing | 0300 3332222 |
| Macmillan Cancer Information Service | 01267 227904 |
| Dewis | https://www.dewis.wales/ |
| West Wales Carers Support | https://carerssupportwestwales.org/ |
| Citizens Advice Bureau | 01267 234488 / 01269 569267 / 01554 759 626 |
| Advocacy West Wales | 01267 223197 |
| Carmarthen Mind | 01267 222990 |
| Llanelli Mind | 01554 752751 |
| Links | 01554 757957 |
| Versus Arthritis | 0800 7563970 |
| Carers UK Helpline | 0808 808 7777 |
| Connecting Carmarthenshire | 0800 917 6255 |
Our offer for unpaid carers:
