Planning your Support

Carers assessments

As a carer, you may be able to get additional help so that you can carry on caring and look after your own wellbeing.

A carer’s assessment will look at the different ways that caring affects your life and work out how you can carry on doing the things that are important to you and your family. Your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing will be at the heart of this assessment.

You can ask for a carer’s assessment at any time, call Adult Social Care advisers on 01344 351500 or visit the council’s Adult Carers webpage.

Making life easier through technology

Caring can be made easier and less stressful if the person you care for is as independent as possible.

Home adaptation and technology to assist daily living (assistive technology) for the person you care for can reduce dependence and give added assurance.  Visit the council’s web pages for more information about staying independent in your own home.

For a FREE in-depth falls risk assessment, a Falls Prevention Assessment Clinic is held at the Assessment and Rehabilitation Clinic at the Healthspace, Brants Bridge, Bracknell. This is a referral only clinic.

If necessary you can then be referred onto the local Positive Steps Programme. This is a 6 week programme of exercises, balance and strength training as well as education on how to lower your risk of future falls.

For added peace of mind, you or the person you care for may benefit from the Forestcare emergency response service.

Share the load with family and friends

Sharing some of the responsibility is a good way to “spread the load” but it can sometimes be difficult for families and friends to get together to co-ordinate what needs to be done.  RallyRound is a free and extremely helpful web-based tool for people in your support network to organise who does what using their mobile phones. As tasks are added, friends and family can choose what they can do and get handy reminders by text or email to make sure nothing is forgotten.

Planning services and support for carers

If you commission services and support for unpaid carers, our Joint Strategic Needs Assessment has information about the experiences and needs of adult and young carers to help you design and deliver your support offer.  There are an estimated 10,000 unpaid carers in Bracknell Forest but only a small number come forward for support.  Let’s take care of our carers – find out why and how here.

Carers rights at work

Parents, and other people who combine work with caring for dependents, have some specific rights protected by law.  These include various types of leave and the right to be considered for flexible working.

Information for carers and employers is available on NHS Choices, a business case for supporting workers is set out by Employers for Carers. NHS Employers has published their policies online for reference and Carer Positive has published best practice for employers for employers who choose to provide additional support above and beyond the legal minimum requirements.