New guidance published on young carers services

Carers Trust has published a new guide aimed at helping commissioners to develop local services for young carers and their families.
  Commissioning Services for Young Carers and their Families is designed to make sure commissioners and other key decision-makers are as informed as possible on the needs of young carers and the types of intervention that will be most appropriate for them.  
 
Understanding young carers’ needs
 
The current changes taking place to health and social care services represent a huge opportunity for those with service commissioning responsibilities for young carers and their families – but they also present challenges.
 
If young carers are not understood or supported appropriately, they are at real risk of negative impacts on their health and wellbeing, education and social development.
 
Structured around the “Understand, Plan, Do and Review” phases of the commissioning cycle, this new guide gives an overview of the key areas for commissioning and offers examples of current young carer services, as well as some of the tools that are proving to be effective.
 
Offering practical solutions to common problems
 
Writing in the foreword to the guide, Dame Philippa Russell, Chair of the Standing Commissioner for Carers, said: “This resource offers practical solutions to common problems in commissioning for young carers. It encourages young carers to be seen as strategic partners in planning and offers useful examples of high quality care and support.
 
“With escalating demand for care and support across the health and social care sectors, this resource is truly essential reading-solution focused but also providing a vision of what good care looks like for a growing number of young carers and those they support.”
 
Download the full guide here .