East Ayrshire Carers Centre within NHS Ayrshire and Arran

East Ayrshire Carers Centre has been operational for 11 years. It currently supports over 4,000 adult carers and more than 400 young carers via their four project sites across the local authority area of East Ayrshire. These carers have been identified as a result of a number of hidden carer initiatives. Two of the most successful have been their ‘GP Initiative’ and ‘Hospital Discharge Initiative’.

The Moffat Project will build on the good practice which has been established through such initiatives. Three Carer Support Workers will be tasked with developing the Hospital Discharge Initiative in all of the general and community hospitals within NHS Ayrshire and Arran. They will work closely with both primary and acute staff to develop referral pathways and will work hard to develop links with both hospital and community based social workers to improve the uptake of - and assist with the delivery of - Carer’s Assessments.

The postholders will:

Work in one designated hospital per post to build up partnership working with discharge co-ordinators; rapid response teams; cardiac rehabilitation staff; renal staff; staff nurses with responsibilities for wards/stations; occupational therapists; physiotherapists etc.
Identify, support and offer Carers Centre services to carers of patients about to be discharged from hospital
Work in partnership with existing GP Liaison Officers to develop referral pathways in 6 GP practices per post
Assist with finding funding to develop the existing Help Directory into a pan-Ayrshire tool
Assist in accessing funding to carry out three GP mailshots in year 1 and six GP mailshots in year 2
Continue and further develop the carer’s assessment pilot to increase the uptake of person centred carer’s assessments
Encourage carers, according to need, to take part in training opportunities available to them via the carers centre

The carers identified through the project will be offered information, advice, support, training, leisure and social activities to enable them to:

Have a better quality of life through accessing additional benefits, resources, aids and adaptations and respite breaks as appropriate
Acquire skills and knowledge to allow them to carry out their caring role effectively
Fulfil their caring role for a longer period of time due to awareness of the support available. Access to complementary therapies, social and leisure activities will help ensure that the carers own health doesn’t suffer as a result of their caring role