Who is a carer?
The answer may seem obvious, but it can be a difficult question to answer. Often people don’t use the word ‘carer’ to describe themselves, they tend to use words such as wife, husband, partner, daughter, friend or neighbour.
The Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 defines the term carer.
If somebody provides another person with help and support to manage their life they are a carer.
The Act made it a legal duty for local authorities to provide support to carers (including an individual carer support plan or young carers statement) and for health boards to involve carers in hospital discharge. Working collaboratively with carers across health and social care will help us to achieve the vision of a carer-friendly Scotland in which carers are recognised and valued.
To support delivery of this vision, we worked with NHS Education for Scotland and a wide range of stakeholders, including carers and carer organisations, to produce The Equal Partners in Care (EPiC) learning resource.
The Equal Partners in Care (EPiC) learning resource
EPiC is an accessible and engaging resource designed to enable everybody who works in health and social care to:
- recognise there is always value in engaging with carers and always ways to do this
- identify and have good conversations with carers
- involve carers in the planning and delivery of services.
Lots of people who work in health and social care are also carers. This means that almost all staff in all parts of the service will have contact with carers, whether they are aware of it or not.
EPiC will help you to make a positive difference and improve outcomes for carers and the people they care for.