When a family member or friend becomes ill, older or disabled and needs support, you may provide help and support to them, unpaid.
This might be providing help with shopping, cleaning, cooking, doing the laundry, assisting with medication, helping with appointments. It can also be help moving around, as well as emotional support, arranging and checking on care, attending meetings, financial support and washing or helping them to communicate.
If you are helping someone because they are ill or disabled, then you are a carer.
Helping you to help
If you are supporting someone, then we will arrange for you to have a Carer’s Passport.
How a Carer’s Passport can support you
It can be a difficult time when someone you care for is admitted to hospital. You may wish to be with your relative or friend more to continue to support them.
If you are providing a lot of care, you are also very likely to know a lot about their condition and how the person you are caring for likes to be cared for.
As a Carer’s Passport holder at one of our sites, you can:
Visit out of normal visiting hours
Provide assistance with meals and drinking
Be actively involved in the meetings about the patient
Be involved in discussion and planning for the discharge of the person you’re caring for
Provide support to the person you care for when they are having tests in the hospital
During their stay in hospital, your Carer’s Passport will also give you the following:
Free or discounted car parking tickets
Regular drinks on the hospital round
Find out more
Please speak to the nursing staff on the ward for more information.
A Carer’s Passport is an offer of support, not an entitlement. It can be withdrawn without notice at staff discretion or if the patient withdraws their consent.
The Carer’s Passport does not affect your basic right as carer. At the point of hospital discharge, you have a right to be consulted as a carer and have assessment of your needs. This is true of all carers, whether you have a Carer’s Passport or not.
John’s Campaign
We support John’s campaign and have signed up to this pledge:
We aim to work in partnership with carers as part of our commitment to provide high quality care for our patients. Carers for dementia patients are offered extended and flexible visiting hours to meet the needs of the individual, in support of John’s Campaign.