Preventing health crisis for carers: Scottish pilot project announced
A £1 million donation to The Princess Royal Trust for Carers is to be used to fund a two year pilot project to reduce waiting times for hospital discharge and to prevent emergency readmissions to hospital in four Health Board areas in Scotland.
A Scottish charity, The Moffat Charitable Trust, donated £1 million to The Princess Royal Trust for Carers to fund this groundbreaking project, aimed at preventing crisis for carers and saving vital NHS funds.
Over the next two years, The Princess Royal Trust carers’ centres will develop new working practices with health and social work professionals. The aim is to ensure that all carers are identified at the earliest possible stage and that appropriate care packages are put in place before patients leave hospital. This will enable patients to leave hospital earlier and carers to cope better with their caring responsibilities.
70% of carers who have experienced hospital discharge procedures say that nobody asked them if they could cope before the person they care for was discharged into their care. In fact 94% of carers provide crucial medical care but only 33% receive any training to do this.
Ruth Clark, Acting Director of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in Scotland says: "The need to create bed spaces in hospitals must be supported by services to support carers in the community. If patients are discharged from hospital before the necessary care package is in place, then the carer of that person is unlikely to be able to cope. This leads to a breakdown in the health of both the person being cared for and the carer, leading to the emergency readmission of one or both of them."
"We want to put in place a system which will ensure that every carer has a carer’s assessment before the person they care for is discharged, so that the appropriate services can be put in place before the patient leaves hospital. A planned discharge from hospital will have benefits for the NHS, for the patient and for the carer."
"We want to see increased numbers of carers being identified and increased numbers receiving an assessment so that they are better able to cope."We aim to change the face of carer support across Scotland, with benefits which could be applied throughout the UK in the future."
Jamie Moffat, Chairman of The Moffat Charitable Trust says: "I am delighted that we are able to fund a groundbreaking project with potentially universal application. Carers will be supported from the moment that the person they care for is discharged from hospital and the person being cared for will benefit from having a carer who is more able to cope with them at home. With 600,000 carers in Scotland alone, the benefits to the community are obvious."
80% of the care currently provided in Scotland is provided by unpaid carers at home and the majority of these carers report significant damage to their emotional and physical health.
The pilot will begin in four Health Board areas next month: Ayrshire and Arran, Borders, Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Lothian.