Barts staff working as carers during Covid-19 will now be provided additional supported measures
In light of Covid-19, NHS England and Improvement are launching a dedicated platform and online resource to all NHS staff, agency and bank workers, who have unpaid caring responsibilities, outside of their paid NHS roles. The organisation plans for additional, help and support for existing, and new staff returning to the NHS, who may also be privately caring for individuals shielding, suffering with the virus or its symptoms.
The campaign comes as part of Carers Week 8-14 June 2020 which highlights the contribution of the millions of unpaid carers in the UK.
Our staff carers network was set up in 2019 and Director of People Services, Liam Slattery and joint chair of the Staff Carers Network, said: “Our network has encouraged those with caring responsibilities outside work to share their experience and help inform how we can support this important group of staff in this key element that impacts on achieving a good work, life balance. I myself am also a carer so I fully understand how difficult this can be with balancing work commitments”.
It is estimated that 250,000 staff across the NHS, have caring responsibilities, alongside their substantive NHS roles and these figures may be vastly underestimated as some employees choose not to disclose their carer status or do not recognise themselves as official carers.
Additional support measures to be put in place by NHS England and Improvement include:
- NHS Carers Digital Passport - a record which identifies carers and sets out an offer of support, services or other benefits in response to their needs.
- Employers for Carers Digital Resource for NHS working carers – (live link to People website – is scheduled for Wednesday 10 June
- Employers for Carers Digital Resource for NHS line managers
Liam Slattery, added: “Staff have been able to use the network as a dedicated area to share their experiences, allowing us to ensure carers needs are considered. We appreciate the challenges carers face, particularly since the Covid-19 pandemic, and want to address and resolve them in a mutually beneficial way”.
Liam partnered with NHS England and Improvement to share his story about why carers networks are so important.