New Emergency Scheme for carers
Hartlepool Borough Council has launched a new service to support unpaid carers in the town.
If you spend a large amount of time supporting your spouse or partner, a member of your family, or a friend who, due to a disability, illness or frailty cannot manage in the community without help, then you are a carer. Carers can be of any age and may or may not live with the person they care for.
Project Officer Dale Owens explains: "We have developed the Carers' Emergency Respite Care Scheme (CERCS) to help give you peace of mind in the event of an unplanned emergency, such as a family crisis or accident.
"When registering for CERCS, you can nominate up to three people who we can contact if an emergency prevents you helping the person you care for. If you can not do this, or if we can not contact the nominated person(s) at the time of an emergency, we will arrange for a care worker to provide support on your behalf.
"CERCS is free and means the person you care for can safely stay in their home if you are unable to provide your usual support. You can register for CERCS by contacting your care manager, if you have one, or our Social Care Duty Team. Once you have registered, we will send you a Carers Card and CERCS keyring giving our 24-hour freephone number, so that you can get in touch with us whenever you need to."
If you care for an adult (aged 18 years or over) who is living in Hartlepool and want to register for CERCS, telephone your care manager or Hartlepool Borough Council's Duty Team on 523872 (minicom 01429 284130).
Photograph courtesy of www.careimages.com