caregivers

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Carers Week 2014 – please sign the pledge to show your support on the Carers Quest Wall


Carers Week 2014

Carers Week 2014

It was Carers Week 2009 when I it really hit me that being a caregiver was not something which happened to other people but was something which was going to happen to me.

I have seen friends both of mime and my parents turn into caregivers. Indeed one of my first work colleagues after leaving university had a wife who had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and he was her primary carer. He fought hard to twelve tough years. For many of us it is quite literally a world turned upside down!

In fact I was helping create video of that year’s Carers Week demonstration outside Downing Street in London , the Official Residence of the UK’s Prime Minister. I received a phone call from my wife saying that a lady from the local Early Years Centre had just paid a visit. The lady was of the view that our son did have a issue. While she could not , of course, diagnose it would possibly be autism. As readers of this blog will know a few months later John was formally diagnosed with ASD.

So as you can imagine I strongly support other caregivers. Indeed compared to most my wife and I have it quite easy. But this is not the case for others.

To show your support for caregivers it would be great if you could do two things for me:-

a) Carers UK who are organising the event are organising a Carers Quest Pledge on their web site. It would be great if you could sign here.

b) If you are a caregiver using the comments section below please share how many hours each day or week you are involved in providing care for another person. Many thanks in advance.


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National Caregivers’ Month – Please like and share to show your support for all those people who provide care for others


This month is National Caregivers’ Month.

As a caregiver myself it is one of the most important awareness weeks.  I really know how tough it can be looking after an autistic child.

For more infromation on the month’s activities please go to http://caregiveraction.org/national-family-caregiver-month/.

In the meantime we would love it if you could like and share the image below.

Many thanks in advance.

National Caregivers Month

National Caregivers Month

 


 

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Are you sure your health or care professional is registered?


The Health and Care Professions Council has released a video highlighting the

HCPC

HCPC

potentially devastating effects of being treated by  an unregistered health or care worker. So have you checked your provider’s credentials? And where should you go if you have any concerns?

 

In recent years the standard of care in care and nursing homes, hospitals and in high street clinics across the UK has come under intense scrutiny.

But the Health and Care Professions Council is urging patients, their families and health and care providers as well as employers to exercise their power to make sure they check the health or care professional they use is in fact registered.

There are hundreds of thousands of health and care professionals working in care homes, hospitals and high street clinics across the UK, yet worryingly not all of these so-called professionals are registered.

The HCPC is keen to educate the public, especially older people who are likely to be receiving care but have low awareness of  the regulations in place to protect them and make sure they are being treated by a registered and qualified professional.

Crucially, using one of the 300,000 HCPC registered professionals gives peace of mind to patients so that on the very rare occasion that care standards are not met, the HCPC can take swift action if they are a danger to the public.

There are 400,000 care home residents in the UK, with 3.8 million older people living at home and the HCPC investigates many cases per year, with some involving the elderly.

Watch the following video to see what can go wrong when receiving treatment and who to turn to for peace of mind.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHWBYDABdSA

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT

www.hpc-uk.org/check/

www.checktheregister.org

For information on other regulated professions see: http://www.hpc-uk.org/aboutregistration/regulators/


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Poll – Would you ever consider taking part in medical market research?

Poll of the Week

Poll of the Week

I’ve just returned from a conference in London on the subject of healthcare and medical market research.  The area in which I used to work in fact.

Coming away it set me thinking about how patients and caregivers feel about such participation.  Have you ever taken part in a survey on medical or healthcare matters?  Are you interested in a expressing your opinions in groups discussions?

Feel free to share your experiences of research in the comments box below

But beforehand please take part in our poll below


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Caregivers of Patients needed by the University of Oxford to take part in a survey about the health related web sites!

Oxford University

Oxford University

Patient and carers experiences of health can be an important source of information to other people with similar concerns. Traditional health information has been based on facts and figures, not the experiences of other patients or carers of people with similar conditions. Today health websites can contain traditional health information, accounts or stories of people’s experiences of health, blogs about health and discussion boards. It is important to understand what impact these health websites have on patients and carers.

A research team in the University of Oxford are researching the effects of sharing online patient and carer health information. The wider aim of this research is to find out how the NHS and other health information providers should incorporate people’s experiences into online health information in an effective manner.

Just click here to take part

https://oxforddph.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_54JzaA3Ub5gWBG5

One component of this research seeks to pilot-test a questionnaire to measure the impact of using health-related websites. This measure will be used in a clinical trial to assess the impact of websites containing personal experiences. It is therefore extremely important to establish if this questionnaire is suitable for its intended use. The questionnaire will also be available for use in future research.

The development of the e-Health Impact Questionnaire is being carried out in collaboration with a number of study groups in Northumbria, Oxford and Scotland. The Programme is funded by the National Institute for Health Research.

Can you help with this research?

The research team are asking carers who are aged 18 or over and have access to the internet to complete this questionnaire. They must also live in the United Kingdom.

In this study a ‘carer’ is a family member or friend who provides care in terms of help and support to a person due to their health condition. Examples of care are:

  • Personal care such as help with dressing or washing.
  • Healthcare such as help with medications or medical equipment.
  • Household duties such as cooking or shopping.
  • Physical care such as lifting or helping with walking.

 

What will taking part in this study involve?

Those wishing to take part in the study will be asked a series of questions about their general views of online health information. They will then be asked to spend 10-15 minutes browsing a care related website and answer a series of questions relating to that website. Where participants provide an email address, they will be sent an email after a period of two weeks asking them to repeat a section of the questionnaire again. This is to test if they questions are reliable and accurate over time. Completing the questionnaire should take approximately 20-25 minutes on two separate occasions.

How can I take part?

Please click on the following link to access the questionnaire: https://oxforddph.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_54JzaA3Ub5gWBG5

If you would like to contact the research team, you can do so by emailing Laura Kelly at laura.kelly@hmc.ox.ac.uk