“If we can reduce some of the challenges and stresses unpaid carers face when they are looking after someone with a blood cancer, it’s satisfying for us, knowing we’ve helped the carer too.”
Jane is a nurse working in the Clinical Haematology department of the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff. She is also the Carer Friendly champion on the ward.
The ward is the largest in Wales and one of the busiest in the UK. With staff under such pressure every day, carers aren’t necessarily their first priority. But Jane and the team on the ward wanted to look at ways they could better support carers to reduce some of the stresses caring can bring.
Jane explains: “The ward is mainly for blood cancer patients and we’re often dealing with very ill people, so naturally it’s a highly stressful time for friends and relatives of people on the ward.
“We thought there could be ways we could ease some of the impact on carers, so we started by setting up a cake and coffee afternoon. We wanted to create a friendly, informal place for carers to come off the ward and talk to others going through similar issues, share information and get advice and information about caring. And to take a little break for themselves.
“We had a patient on the transplant unit and his wife would only visit very occasionally. One day she came to our cake and coffee group and explained that she lived over an hour from the hospital and due to the fact they had lost her husband’s wage she was working full time and couldn’t afford to reduce any of her hours to visit her husband. These are the just some of the issues many carers face, especially when someone becomes ill suddenly. If we can better support carers, it helps everyone.
“The cake and coffee afternoons were going really well, so we started to look at other ways we could support carers. The hospital patient experience team put us in touch with Carers Trust South East Wales and we met Sian, who has helped us work towards becoming Carer Friendly.
“Carer Friendly has helped us to focus on finding practical ways to better support carers visiting the ward. We all have other jobs to do, but staff are now well equipped to talk to people about the support available to carers. They can see and understand what caring means. And our coffee and cake afternoon has been going for two years now and is working really well!
“I would strongly encourage anyone thinking about becoming Carer Friendly to do it! There is no fixed or right/wrong way to approach and pass Carer Friendly and we’ve been able to submit the evidence as and when we get time to do so. It’s a flexible process that gives us the chance to focus on the really important stuff. We all need to pull together and do more to support carers in our communities and Carer Friendly is the best place to start.”