Dave Thomas: 'A commitment to help community's carers'

This week at our Cabinet meeting there was a lot on the agenda to discuss. Some of the things we looked at included the Serious Violence Strategy along with reviewing recommendations on the annual report of SWISCo from the Overview and Scrutiny Committee and budget monitoring. If you want to read the papers that we are considering at these meetings, they are always published seven days before the meeting and are available on our website. And always it is live streamed on the Council’ YouTube channel so you can watch the discussions in action. Another item on our agenda to consider, and was approved, was the Torbay Interagency Carers’ Strategy which covers the next three years.

If you don’t know, a Carer is someone who cares for a partner, relative, friend or neighbour, who due to physical, sensory or learning disability, mental health or drug/alcohol issues, frailty, illness, long-term health condition and/or vulnerability cannot manage alone in the community. Sometimes people are mutual Carers, this is where they both provide support to each other. In this circumstance, everything works well until one person’s health deteriorates or their situation changes. This is especially common in older couples. 

Carers are not just adults, they could be children and young people too. Young carers are under 18 years old who look after a member of the family who is sick, disabled, has mental health problems, or has a drugs or alcohol problem. Young carers may be may the sole carer or be supporting another family member in care tasks. This may cause difficulties for them at home, in school or college, or elsewhere.

Reading the Strategy, I was surprised that two out of three of us (65 per cent) will be a Carer at some time in our life, we sometimes don’t realise that we are considered to be a Carer, when we do those extensive caring roles. Not surprisingly, people don’t know about the wide range of support that is available to them. It is our intention for the Torbay Carers’ Strategy will help to address these concerns. Here in Torbay we have a much higher than average number of Carers providing over 20 hours of care a week, according to the 2021 Census data. We are actually the sixth highest in England and some Carers are undertaking 50 plus hours of care. 

The Strategy brings together the work that our Health and Care Organisations in Torbay plan to undertake. This ensures that organisations meet their legal obligations to Carers, work towards best practice and quality standards and that we ensure our work is joined up. This will ensure Carers are at the heart of our work and that they are aware of services and the support available to them. Torbay Council has made a commitment to Carers and have agreed to deliver the Devon Wide Commitment to Carers. This includes adopting good employment principles and practices for those Carers who work or want to work for us. 

The strategy also ensures that we are using all the ways we have available to us to encourage awareness and support for Carers in our communities and Business. And this is why I am writing about this in my column this week. If anything you have read here today has made you think that you are Carer, and if you haven’t already, I really do encourage you to reach out to the Torbay Carers Service. 

The service can help you get support from lots of services here in the Bay. You can also apply for a Torbay Carers’ Passport and Emergency Card which offers discounts with a range of local organisations and businesses, emergency back-up planning and free hospital parking when supporting the person that you care for.

I wanted to finish this week with those important contact details. You can contact the Torbay Carers Service by calling 01803 666620. More information about what is available, and the form to sign up to the Signposts for Carers’ quarterly Newsletter, is available online at www.torbay.gov.uk/carers-support. 

If you know of a young person, under the age of 18, who is carrying out caring responsibilities you can refer them to the Young Carers Service by emailing youngcarers@torbay.gov.uk