Are you a carer?
A carer is someone who provides support to a family member, partner, or friend who needs help due to illness, frailty, disability, mental health challenges or addiction.
Carers may assist with a wide range of tasks, such as:
- Practical support – keeping the home clean, shopping, or caring for children
- Medication – collecting prescriptions and ensuring medicines are taken correctly
- Physical help – supporting mobility at home or when going out
- Emotional support – offering comfort and reassurance
- Personal care – helping with washing, dressing, and toileting
- Financial management – ensuring bills are paid and benefits are accessed
Carers provide this help without payment, often balancing these responsibilities alongside their own lives.
Working carers group
There is a working carers group at University Hospitals Tees. The purpose of this group is to provide peer support, raise awareness of the challenges faced by carers, advocacy by providing a voice in the workplace to ensure carer’s needs are being met and provide tools and resources to help staff manage their caregiving role alongside work responsibilities.
For further information, please email Kendra Taylor on [email protected].
Carers UK
Looking after someone can be a rewarding experience. It can also be tough, lonely and bewildering. But you’re not on your own.
Carers UK is here to listen, to give you expert information and guidance, to champion your rights and support you in finding new ways to manage at home, at work, or wherever you are.
UK Government advice including financial support
The government page includes information on benefits and financial support you can claim, flexible working information and how to help someone with their benefit claim.
Social care and support guide
This guide is for people who have care and support needs, their carers, and people who are planning for their future care needs.
Types of social care and support include:
- Home care – support from a paid carer in your own home
- Meals at home – such as meals on wheels
- Home adaptations – changes to your home to improve accessibility
- Helpful equipment – gadgets and devices to assist with everyday tasks
- Personal alarms and monitoring systems (telecare) – so you can call for help if needed, for example after a fall
- Specialist housing options – including supported living services and care homes
The guide also includes information on caring for children and young people and making decisions for someone else.
Help and support with dementia care
Advice on caring for someone with dementia and on accessing the support you need to look after yourself.
Find out about your health and social care options, practical tips and how to manage end of life care.
Supporting someone with cancer
If your partner, family member, friend or colleague has cancer, there can be a lot to think about. You might be a carer, or just want to help. We have information to help you with the practical, emotional and financial impacts of supporting someone with cancer.
Policies that may be relevant to staff who are carers
Flexible working policy
Flexible working means a change to the normal pattern of work to achieve a more effective balance between home and work commitments to support a carers schedule.
Examples of flexible working may include:
- A change in hours
- Working part-time
- Job share
- Working condensed hours or annualised hours
- Working ‘flexi-time’
- Term time working or hybrid working which incorporates some working from home or home working.
For South Tees employees, please search on the staff intranet for ‘P45 – Flexible working policy’.
For North Tees employees, please search on the staff intranet for ‘HR35 – Flexible (agile) working policy’.
Special leave policy
The special leave policy provides clear guidelines to staff and managers to enable an appropriate balance to be achieved between the needs of the service and the needs of individuals when dealing with requests for special leave.
This policy includes guidance for staff members who are carers.
For South Tees employees, please search on the staff intranet for ‘P32 – Special leave policy’.
For North Tees employees, please search on the staff intranet for ‘HR68 – Special and duty leave policy’.
Maternity, paternity and adoption policy
This policy supports parents through all aspects of pregnancy or adoption and throughout the period until their return to work.
The trust also seeks to promote “family friendly” policies to help staff achieve an effective balance between work and family commitments.
For South Tees employees, please search on the staff intranet for ‘P36 – Maternity, paternity and adoption policy’.
For North Tees employees, please search on the staff intranet for ‘HR69 – Parental leave policy’.