Chances are if you’re reading this you have some sort of interest in carers unless of course you’ve stumbled across this page by accident. Whether it’s the former or the latter I encourage you to read on ….. because I want to introduce you the Leeds Commitment to Carers.
Leeds aims to be a caring and compassionate city – the best city for health and wellbeing in the UK. The Leeds Carers Partnership argue that if we are to be the best – we need to be the best for carers!
Carers are providing over 1.5 million hours of unpaid care in Leeds every week of the year. Around 1 in 10 people in Leeds are carers and balancing work and care is becoming an increasing issue as the numbers of older people continues to rise. Caring can be a rewarding experience but without the right support many carers find themselves facing financial hardship, ill-health, emotional stress, relationship breakdown and isolation.
Carers Week 2017 runs from 12th to 18th June and is an opportunity to celebrate the vital contribution of the 72,000 unpaid carers in Leeds.
Just think what a huge difference we could all make by just doing that little bit more to identify carers and to recognise the huge contribution carers make to life in our city.
And it’s not just health and care agencies I’m talking about – employers, local shops, banks, supermarkets, voluntary organisations, faith groups – every high street, every community service, every leisure facility has a role to play in making sure they are accessible to carers. Indeed, many are in a perfect position to make a difference by recognising carers and connecting them to the help and support available.
Signing up to the Leeds Commitment to Carers is one simple way of making a difference and in order to demonstrate your commitment to carers, all that is asked of you is that you think about the things you do well for carers, the things that you could do better, and then identify up to three actions you intend to take to make improvements. The actions can be as small or as large as you think you can commit to. When you submit your action plan to the Leeds Carers Partnership they will send you a certificate of recognition and the Leeds Commitment to Carers logo which you will be able to use. Where possible, we will put people in touch with others who have committed to similar actions so you can share best practice and we will ask you to tell us how you are doing every six months.
Signing up to the Leeds Commitment to Carers is easy – please contact me I will send you everything you need to be part of making Leeds the best city in the UK for health and wellbeing.
Ian Brooke-Mawson
Strategic Commissioning Manager (Carers)
Leeds City Council (Adult Social Care) & NHS Leeds Clinical Commissioning Groups
Find Out More
Leave A Comment