This page exists to support practitioners to work in partnership with carers and to achieve better outcomes. Much of the material in the other pages in Key Resources is also relevant to work with carers. You can find evidence supporting a focus on outcomes for carers in our Evidence section.
Equal Partners in Care
Equal Partners in Care (EPiC) is a project between the SSSC & NHS Education for Scotland to ensure health & social service staff are carer aware and engage carers as partners. EPiC was refreshed in 2019 to reflect the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016.
Carer support planning e-book
Work commissioned by the SSSC in 2018 produced an e-book to support organisations and practitioners to prepare for the changes resulting from the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016. The ebook is available here Personal Outcomes Planning Resource and pays attention to:
- The practicalities of identifying personal outcomes with carers
- Developing Adult Carer Support Plans / Young Carer Statements
- Supporting carers to achieve personal outcomes over time
Kevin’s Story is from the e-book and can be used as a standalone resource to illustrate:
- the benefits to a carer from sharing their story,
- the benefits of focusing on carer outcomes
- the importance of carer recognition, early intervention and relational practice.
Young Carer Statements & a whole family approach
Carers Scotland have produced a useful resource “Together: a whole family approach for young carers”. This includes links to diverse additional resources, guidance on having ‘difficult conversations,’ and on outcomes focused planning with families.
Short Breaks and outcomes
The Research and Practice Development Group was recently established to take forward research and practice on meaningful short breaks/respite care. The definition of short breaks is:
“A short break is any form of service or assistance which enables the carer(s) to have sufficient and regular periods away from their caring routines or responsibilities. The purpose is to support the caring relationship and promote the health and well-being of the carer, the supported person, and other family members affected by the caring situation.” For further detail click here
The Short Breaks Research and Practice Development Group is building evidence around outcomes for carers (and supported people) relating to short breaks.
International links
The Care Alliance Ireland has produced a resource for family carer training, incorporating lots of free resources for carers and organisations, including online training for carers. We contributed to the seminar series which resulted in the resource.
Earlier resources
Earlier resources below address issues from identifying carers and supporting diversity, raising practitioner awareness of carer issues, through exploring the potential value of carers support plans, to supporting carer organisations to evidence their impact.
An example of an outcomes focussed recording tool for carers is the Carer Pathway that was developed through multi-agency working in North Lanarkshire.
Rebecca Caulfield, Training Co-ordinator (NHS Carer Information Strategy) carried out an evaluation of the ‘Think CARER’ training programme in NHS Lothian, which aims to support all local healthcare staff to be more carer aware.
Carer’s assessment and outcomes focused approaches
Christeen’s digital story describes how thoughtful conversation with a professional during a carer’s assessment enabled her to see her life in Black and White, to recognise that she had locked herself into a role that was affecting her health, and to allow others including her family to help her. The story was created several years ago and has been used extensively at local and national events, but the core messages still resonate today.
Personal Outcomes Network 