Consultations

Surrey County Council wants to get the views of more young carers (and their parents and guardians) as they work on their updated Young Carers Strategy for Surrey. They especially want to hear about the impact of the pandemic on you, as well as understand how caring affects your school life, health, and wellbeing. The more that SCC knows about the lives of young carers, the better they will be able to design the young carers services of the future. There’s a chance to win tickets to Thorpe Park too. Survey can be completed anonymously. CLOSES 1 JULY

Adult Social Care want to hear your views on accessing information and advice about care and support. Things like care at home, benefits, accessing equipment, etc - importantly this includes support and services for carers. Please complete their survey to give your experiences and views on this. CLOSES 25 JUNE.

Surrey County Council would like to chat one-to-one with young carers (along with an adult in their life) to hear about what their life is like – what they find challenging, what they find helps and what their hopes and dreams are for the future. This will help SCC write a new strategy so that they can make sure services that help young carers will continue to help young people in the future. The chats will be on a video call and will be for about 45 minutes. You will receive £7 of Amazon vouchers as a thank you! If you are interested and are available, then they’d love to hear from you! Please email sarah.rajendram@surreycc.gov.uk.

A big worry for carers this past year has been supporting their loved one while they were in hospital – and when they were discharged from hospital too. Some Surrey carers have reported not being consulted with, or properly informed, when the person they cared for was being discharged. Surrey NHS hospitals and Surrey County Council are aware of these challenges and are looking to improve the hospital discharge processes, and want to hear from carers in Surrey. So, Action for Carers, working with Healthwatch Surrey, want to find out about YOUR experiences of hospital discharge since last summer. What’s worked, what were the problems, what could be done differently? The information will then be passed on to the NHS and SCC to help them plan for better future care. CLOSES MID JUNE.

Surrey and Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust would like to hear the views of people in Surrey on the use of digital technology in healthcare. The survey results will enable the trust to design and shape new services.

HELP IMPROVE THE ACCESSIBILITY OF NHS 111! The RNIC is working with NHSEI to explore how the NHS 111 service could be made better for people who are deaf or have hearing loss. RNID is supporting NHSEI to recruit volunteers to provide their feedback over an interactive online platform, where volunteers can discuss their needs and share their ideas for service improvements, including a project looking into SMS as a way to contact NHS 111.

Take part in this year's Carers Week campaign, which asks the government to invest £1.2 billion of additional funding for carers’ breaks to help with post-COVID recovery as well as longer term sustainable funding for breaks for carers. Write to your MP to share your experience and views - simply click the link.

The Surrey Care Record allows Surrey authorised health and social care professionals share data about patients - hopefully providing better joined up care. Surrey Heartlands and Healthwatch Surrey want your help to create communications, including a video, to explain the Surrey Care Record. Can you help?

Surrey's Independent Mental Health Network are carrying out a short survey regarding mental health crisis support during the current Coronavirus pandemic. Please click to complete the survey.

The SCC User Voice and Participation team are working with emotional wellbeing and mental health services to gain an understanding of what it feels like for a young person transitioning out of the services they access. This transition could be out of children’s emotional wellbeing and mental health services completely or into another service. This short survey will help The User Voice and Participation Team to know what transition currently feels like for young people. We will also feed this information back to the appropriate services to ensure your voice is heard and hopefully bring about positive change to improve transition for other young people in Surrey. CLOSES 30 SEPTEMBER

The Children’s Commissioner for England has launched ‘The Big Ask’, the largest ever consultation with children undertaken in England. It asks children to set out their priorities for improving childhood post-COVID. The results will help identify the barriers that prevent children from reaching their potential, put forward solutions and set ambitious goals for the country to achieve. Unfortunately there is no direct reference to caring, but children are asked if there is someone in their household with an illness/disability. The survey is broken down into different age groups, plus Easy Read versions. There's also a survey for adults, including adults working with children.

A medical student study at the University of Birmingham is looking into the the impact of stress on people who care for adults with an intellectual disability. Participation would be an hour's Zoom discussion. Please click to see more details and email jxo636@student.bham.ac.uk if you'd like more information or to get involved. APPLICATIONS CLOSE 30 APRIL.

COVID-19 can cause symptoms that last for weeks or months, this is known as Long COVID syndrome. The symptoms are wide-ranging and fluctuating. COVID seems to have had a particularly strong impact on older people, ethnic minorities, men and people with learning disabilities. The NHS wishes to boost support for people with Long COVID, and has set up a ‘taskforce’. They are looking for people – including carers – to share their perspective and experience, seeking 9 people (nationally) to participate in a patient and public advisory group. APPLICATIONS CLOSE 30 APRIL.

A study at UCL exploring the perspectives of Black carers who have experienced their loved one being compulsorily detained under the Mental Health Act (sometimes referred to as 'being sectioned') - reflecting also on the fact that Black people seem to be disproportionately detained. Research involves a confidential interview and two short questionnaires, with a £20 voucher for participation. Details on the attached poster (click image)

The government has published a White Paper on the major changes it is planning for the Mental Health Act. There's a new emphasis on choice and rights; a view to ending the need for coercion; and a focus on treating patients as individuals. More here (PLEASE CUT AND PASTE THESE LINKS TO VISIT THESE ADDITIONAL PAGES) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/landmark-reform-of-mental-health-laws and here from Rethink https://www.rethink.org/news-and-stories/blogs/2021/01/the-mental-act-white-paper-a-big-step-towards-change/ If you have had experience of the Act, you're asked to share your views.