Advice Line 01782 793100
Mon – Thu : 9.00 am – 5.00 pm Fri 9.00 am - 4.30 pm
Sat : 9.00 am - 12 noon Sun : 9.00 am - 12 noon
Stoke-on-Trent All Age Carers Service
The Stoke-on-Trent All Age Carers Service provides a single point of access for all Carers including both adult and young Carers. The service ensures that Carers of all ages have access to a wide range of support services, information, advice and guidance.
Our services provide holistic support enabling Carers to feel better supported reducing the impact of the caring role, they are able to make informed choices about their caring role and own health and wellbeing.
Who does the service support?
If you or someone you know provide care to a family member, friend or neighbour and are living in Stoke-on-Trent then you may be eligible to access our support services.
A Carer is someone who, without payment, cares for someone due to illness, disability, health conditions, age or substance misuse who could not manage alone.
The caring role can be diverse. Ranging from provision of continuous care to the person that they are caring for, through to shorter yet intensive caring on a sporadic basis.
This could included :
Personal Care – Support with dressing, washing and toileting
Emotional Care – Offering a listening ear, moral support or simply providing companionship for someone who is feeling lonely and isolated.
Physical/Practical Care – Support with manual handling, lifting, assisting and helping the cared for when moving around.
Domestic Care – Carrying out daily tasks such as cooking, housework and shopping.
Health Care and Wellbeing – Wellbeing of the cared for is paramount along with support in managing illness or condition or helping to administer medication.
Financial Management – Support with financial management and affairs
Liaison Support – Assisting with any communication between the cared for and professionals.
Carers can be any age or gender and can be found in all communities.
A Carers’ lifestyle can be restricted and Carers can become mentally and physically exhausted, because of their caring role.
Many people do not identify themselves as Carers and do not seek necessary help and support.
What does the service offer?
Support available includes:
· Carers assessment and reviews
· 1-2-1 or group based support
· Peer support
· Support to take a break
· Information, advice and guidance
· Support to access community, health and wellbeing services
· Access to activities, training, and much more
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For Young Carers we can also:
· Help Carers and families think about what would make the difference
· Provide Peer Support with other Young Carers
· Help Young Carers have a voice
· Access support in school and college
· Young Carers Assessments - these will be carried out by the SOTCC Young Carers Caseworker from the
Early Intervention Team.
· Help Young Carers take a break from their caring role
In order to access all of our services for free you will need to register with us. By providing us with your details you will receive information and support which is tailored to your individual needs.
Once you are registered with us we can arrange for a dedicated Carers Support Worker to contact you to arrange to meet with you, they will get to know you and they can arrange for a Universal Carers Assessment which will look at the different ways in which your caring role affects your life.
However, if you decline an assessment you will still be able to access our information, advice and guidance, as well as any other support and help from local organisations that may benefit you in your caring role.
On-line Referral
In order to make our referral processes more effective and secure, we now also have an online referral process. This can be used to make a referral to us on behalf of a carer, or if you are carer and want to self-refer. All fields are mandatory, unless otherwise stated.
Please click below to start the referral.
Alternatively, if you are having difficulties with this form you can give us a call on 01782 793100 to speak to a member of our staff.
Security of the Site - Please note that when you submit information using this form, it is not being emailed. Information is collected in a secure database through the website and the website’s host server is protected by firewalls. The only way to get access to this information is through designated NSC Staff. All access is by personal log ins and passwords.
A Universal Assessment can take place over the phone, face to face at our offices, your own home or somewhere convenient to yourself.
This assessment is your opportunity to speak openly and freely about how your caring role affects you, so that together we can create a support plan to help you to feel supported and in control of your caring role.
This assessment usually takes 1 - 2 hours to complete.
Young Carers Assessments will be carried out by a Young Carers Caseworker from the Early Intervention Team.
This can be done by emailing early.help@stoke.gov.uk
or calling the ChAD team on 01782 235100 who will complete the referral over the phone.
The Young Carers Caseworker will then refer into the Stoke-on-Trent All Age Carer Support Service for additional support for the Young Carer.
The “My Caring Journal” solely focusses on the Carer, putting them first and valuing the magnitude of their caring role. The journal enables the support worker and other organisations to understand the individual work alongside the Carer, advise and signpost as appropriate dependent upon the individual Carers needs. It will aim to bring together disjointed services and aim to form a clear identified pathway to ensure Carers receive seamless individualised support throughout their caring journey.
It consists of the Carer details and information about their caring role and the person they care for. It has designated pages for professionals who visit the Carer, their name, title and contact details, along with pages to record the support and services each professional from an organisation provides.
For Carers the impact of having to constantly repeat themselves to numerous healthcare professionals can have a detrimental effect on Carers Health and Wellbeing. The “My Caring Journal” reduces repetition and acts as a vital aid memoir to prevent Carers having to rely solely on memory or scattered notes as to who has visited and their involvement with the Carer and cared for.
The “My Caring Journal” provides one point of call, it is owned by the Carer who takes responsibility for its completion, therefore increasing Carers confidence in managing their own caring role. It empowers Carers to feel more informed and in control. It reduces feelings of confusion, stress, anxiety and in some instances depression, therefore improving Carers physical and mental health and wellbeing. Carers will no longer feel completely overwhelmed, disgruntled and powerless by the number of professionals they are coming into contact with on a regular basis. Which in turn will lead to services becoming less fragmented, disjointed and duplicated.
On listening to the needs of Carers, North Staffs Carers has developed a communication tool called “My Caring Journal” which is owned by Carers aiding and supporting them throughout their caring journey.
The “My Caring Journal” assists Carers in reducing stress and anxiety experienced in their caring role and acts as a communication tool. North Staffs Carers has found in the past that in some instances organisations are not aware of the other organisations working with that individual Carer, leading to disjointed, fragmented and often duplicated support being offered.
Our support groups run regularly throughout Stoke-on-Trent and also via Zoom.
Most are for all Carers, and we have some specialist groups, such as Carers looking after someone with Dementia, Mental Health, Learning and Physical Disability, Substance Misuse, Autism/ASD, ADHD, Parent Carers, End of Life to name a few. They’re open to anyone in a caring role.
We will also signpost you to support groups outside our organisation that provide support for specific conditions, like the Dementia Cafés or Parkinson’s support.
Carers report that their caring role can make them feel lonely. Meeting up with other Carers is a great way to fight that feeling of isolation.
Young Carers Activities and Groups
