Support for Carers

Support for Carers

Service name:

North East Lincolnshire Carers’ Support Service (NEL CSS)

Description of service:

The NEL Carers’ Support Service is funded by the North East Lincolnshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

The service supplies free information, advice and support for unpaid carers who look after a family member or friend who could not otherwise manage without their support because of illness, frailty, disability, mental health condition or a substance misuse problem. It also acts as the “front door” for the Young Carer service, housed in the same building (which is funded by the North East Lincolnshire Council).

The person being cared for must either live in North East Lincolnshire or be registered with a North East Lincolnshire GP practice for the carer to access this organisation’s support.

The NEL CSS offers the following to all carers:

  • General information and advice – this could be regarding the person’s caring role or related to something else entirely
  • Signposting and referral to other services such as Focus for a Carer’s Needs Assessment or an assessment for the cared for person, to the Young Carers Practitioners for a young carer’s assessment, the Alzheimer’s Society, Age UK, NAViGO, etc.
  • Support for eligible individuals to access grants via the carers’ innovation and support fund – these are one off payments for eligible carers (i.e. a washing machine breaks, and the cared for person has incontinence problems).

The NEL CSS offers the following to all adult/parent (age 18+) carers:

  • Specialist advice service – benefits, debt and housing advice including completing forms, support to challenge decisions and support at appeals and tribunal, as well as other carers’ rights minimum 30 hours per week)
  • Advocacy – relevant if a carer doesn’t have the confidence to work with professionals or if they require support to challenge decisions that are being made about them and the person they care for (around health, social care, benefits, housing, etc.)
  • Emotional support via a dedicated key worker, including basic emotional support, one to one targeted support, more intensive counselling support, etc.
  • Informal emotional support and socialisation via our befriending service. Befrienders can meet a carer at home or in the community. They can go shopping with a carer or meet in a local café. Befrienders can also attend groups with a carer if they don’t have the confidence initially to go alone
  • Support to enable the carer to access services for themselves, if they can’t leave the adult person they care for alone. This service is provided in the Bennett Suite, a day care room located in the Carers’ Support Centre building and staffed by fully trained personal support assistants.
  • Relaxation and time out with the free holistic therapy service - carers can have a free massage for an hour or pay for reduced price beauty treatments such as a manicure, pedicure and facial.
  • Specialist support for carers caring for someone with a substance misuse problem, which includes one to one support and group support; it covers carer coping mechanisms and strategies to support someone with a substance misuse problem
  • Training to enable carers to care safely and well. This includes emergency first aid training, “looking after your back” training, foot care, confidence building, stress management, cooking classes IT tuition and a range of other things
  • Socialising and learning opportunities from other carers via a range of carer support groups
  • Activities/outings (i.e. the art group, the carers’ choir, Christmas lunch)
  • Lifelong learning opportunities in response to need, and learning opportunities outside of the caring role

The NEL CSS is unable to offer the following:

  • Provision of care workers in the home
  • Ongoing financial payments, i.e. personal budgets

The Young Carer service offers the following to carers aged 17 and under:

  • Young carer assessments
  • One to one young carers support
  • Young carers group work
  • Social activities and outings appropriate for young carers
  • Dedicated young carer training
  • Signposting and referral to other services as appropriate
  • Advocacy or support to access advocacy

How to access a carer’s service:

Any carer of any age can contact the service. NEL CSS supports adults caring for adults and adults caring for children with additional needs; the team that support children looking after family members is also based in the building, and can be reached through the main NEL CSS reception.

A carer can contact the service direct via any of the methods listed below; the service staff will talk to newly referred carers about their caring role, to establish what support they might need.

Professionals can also refer carers in - the professional must obtain permission to pass on the carer’s name and telephone number and the service will then make contact. There is also a referral form for professionals to use should this be preferred, both in hard copy and online (via the service website).

Telephone number: 01472 242277

Drop in at the building: 1 Town Hall Square, Grimsby, DN31 1HY (next to Grimsby Library)

Via the website: www.carerssupportcentre.com

Via email: info.nel@carerssupportcentre.com