Caring for someone

A carer is anyone who provides unpaid care and support for a friend or family member who could not cope without it. This may be due to a long-term illness, disability, mental health issues, or an addiction.

Caring can be positive and rewarding, however it can also be challenging – emotionally, physically and financially.

The council is committed to supporting carers in North Tyneside, working in partnership with the following organisations:

North Tyneside Carers’ Centre

Alongside other partners, we support North Tyneside Carers’ Centre to provide a range of free support to carers, including:

• Information and advice
• Social activities
• Training
• Employment advice and support
• Group and 1:1 support

You can find out more about these services on the North Tyneside Carers‘ Centre website, and self-refer here.

PROPS

 PROPS s a local organisation providing a range of group and 1:1 support to both adults and young people affected by a family member’s substance use. You can get in touch here.

North Tyneside Parent Carer Forum

The parent carer led organisation who represent and support parent and carers within North Tyneside who have a child/young person aged 0-25 with special educational needs and/or disabilities (‘SEND’).

• You can find out more about this service at www.ntpcf.co.uk
• For a general referral to NTPCF click here
• For a referral for Parent Carer Needs Assessment click here

Carers Assessments

Carers can ask Adult Social Care for an assessment of their own needs for support. We provide a self-assesment and referral tool for carers on My Care North Tyneside.

Completed self-referrals are followed up by a worker from North Tyneside Carers’ Centre or Adult Social Care, depending on your needs and circumstances.

If you struggle to use the online form, you can contact:

• The person you care for’s social care worker, if they have one, or
• North Tyneside Carers’ Centre on 0191 249 6480

More information about carer support is available on My Care North Tyneside.

Living Well North Tyneside

Carers can find out about health and wellbeing information, events, groups and services throughout North Tyneside using Living Well North Tyneside

Our commitment to working with carers

The North Tyneside Carers’ Charter was developed by carers and sets out the key principles when working with carers, these include:

• Recognising carers
• Valuing carers
• Providing information and advice to carers
• Involving carers

Service providers are expected to agree to the principles of the Carers’ Charter, promote the inclusion of carers in planning and decision making and support individual carers to participate in the process as required. You can read the charter here

Ways to Wellbeing for Carers

North Tyneside Adult Social Care recognises that carers’ wellbeing is as important to as that of the people they care for. We adopt the same model to provide personalised, holistic support, based on straightforward but meaningful conversations about:

1) What’s important to you – exploring your strengths and the challenges you face
2) Action when most needed – support to get back on track
3) Your life, your way – planning support for a better quality of life
4) Staying well – reviewing your support.

local authorities across the North East have partnered with Mobilise, a carer-led and designed technology platform to provide enhanced, on-demand services to anyone with caring responsibilities in the region.

Mobilise is an empowering online community that offers vital advice, tools and invaluable community networks to support people with the day-to-day realities of caring. 

Accessing the service

The support can be accessed via an online hub, available here  - where community members will have access to:

• An online peer community of fellow carers from across the UK - with the chance to share advice and experiences through a community forum and during regular events, such as the ‘virtual cuppa’
• Easy-to-use, self-service tools outlining the different forms of support they may be entitled to (e.g. Carer’s Allowance) and how they can access them
• Tailor-made support guides on everything from how to balance caring with full-time work to managing your personal health and wellbeing while looking after someone else
• Information on carers’ rights and relevant social care law.

The North Tyneside Commitment to Carers 2024-2029 has been developed by the North Tyneside Carers Partnership Board, which includes decision makers from a wide range of statutory and voluntary sector agencies and organisations across the Borough, including the Authority and the Integrated Care Board.

The Commitment to Carers sets out a shared ambition from those organisations which is to improve the health and wellbeing of carers of all ages, supporting them to have a positive life and experiences, outside of their caring role.

The Commitment also identifies actions that the North Tyneside Carers Partnership Board will carry out to improve the identification of carers in the Borough and services delivered to them.

The Commitment to Carers 2024-2029 outlines several priorities which have been identified in consultation with carers in the Borough.

• Carers’ views shape the priorities and work of the Carers Partnership Board.
• Carers’ views are effectively shared with providers and decision makers to increase the involvement of carers.
• Improve information for carers about their rights, what carers can expect and the support that is available to them.
• Work collaboratively to plan carer focused activity and identify opportunities for investment and strategic working.
• Improve the knowledge and skills of frontline staff to identify and support carers.
• Challenge all service providers and commissioners to consider how they can improve the identification and support for carers

The commitment will also review and improve carer support in particular service areas including: -

• Young carers
• Parent carers
• Carers of people with mental health issues
• Primary care settings
• Secondary care pathways
• Respite support for carers

You can read the North Tyneside Commitment to Carers here 

You can also see this document and the summary below