22 August 2024
Our highly skilled primary, community nurses strive to improve enhance and deliver complex support in a timely way to our population of unpaid carers across England. The value of unpaid care is equivalent to a second NHS in England and Wales, with social and nursing care professionals struggling to create the necessary time and capacity to spend with their citizens across the life course. This creates disjointed community teams experiencing a ‘crisis of care’ and critically impacts upon timely access to quality care for unpaid carers that is desperately needed within our localities, at regional and national levels. Our Unpaid carers are challenged to care for relatives who have complex multimorbid long term conditions, encompassing illness, disability, and mental health issues. The burden of caring responsibilities is growing. As the workforce closest to their communities, our community care nurses share a long history of relational and therapeutic care, engaging and connecting with carers on an individual level. There is a critical imperative to formalise that partnership work to create ‘upstream’ preventative planned and timely services, that allows for equity and co production to enhance unpaid carers mental and physical wellbeing. Primary and community nursing teams led and collaborated with carers to establish three carers’ roadshows across Yorkshire. This sustainable comprehensive and flexible community model is now in its second year. Over the Course of three half days in 2023, Barnsley Leeds and Sheffield integrated care systems delivered a total of 2,310 appointments and developed critical conversations with Carers and their families, to improve timely access to quality care and services. Sixty-five health and care organisations participated in the three roadshows across Yorkshire, with 227 preventative health checks initiated and completed by thirty nurses with student nursing teams. The future of care offers planned community initiatives at place spread and adoption.
