As Carers Week draws to a close, staff at Norfolk’s mental health trust are now officially ‘in the know’ about the needs of carers.

Norfolk and Waveney Mental Health NHS Trust have been holding special information events for its staff to discuss the role of carers in healthcare.

Roz Brooks, Director of Governance and Nursing, said: “The Trust is dedicated to listening to the views of carers as well as its service users.


“When a patient leaves our services it is their carers – their family, friends and loved ones – who will continue that vital and much needed support. Carers therefore provide an invaluable source of information about the patient’s emotional and physical needs.


“One of the important things the Trust wants to highlight during Carers Week, which began on Monday is for staff to recognise the needs that carers themselves have.”

Staff are encouraged to offer Carers’ Assessments to ensure that family, friends and others caring for service users are having their needs considered and addressed.

Roz added: “There have been meetings with different teams around the Trust to introduce them to the strategy that we have produced. Question and answer sessions allowed staff to get to the crux of carer issues.”

The Carers Strategy will set out objectives for the Trust such as designing a carers information sharing scheme, creating a carer’s Information Pack about their loved one’s clinical care and involving them in patient assessments.

Other key concerns include supporting carers’ mental and physical wellbeing, and enabling carers to realise their educational and employment potential.

The strategy will be officially launched at the Trust’s Annual General Meeting in September 2011.