A carer is anyone, including children and adults who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction and cannot cope without their support. The care they give is unpaid. 

5 million people in England provide unpaid care for a friend or family member (2021 census). Many carers don’t see themselves as carers and it takes them an average of two years to acknowledge their role as a carer.

This page offers information for those who provide unpaid care and support for someone else.

The Patient Experience Team have collaborated with unpaid carers, care organisations, Trust staff and local councils to understand the challenges unpaid carers face when accessing health services.

An improvement group, chaired by the Associate Chief Nurse for Community, was established in September 2024. Since then, we have engaged with a range of carers to understand what’s important to them when accessing health services. As a result of this work, the Carers Charter was developed, alongside our improvement plan.

Our Unpaid Carers Charter

Identification and recognition

• We will try to find and support unpaid carers as early as we can.
• We will treat carers as important team members in caring for someone. Their ideas and help will be respected.

Access to services

• We will make it easier for unpaid carers to use hospital services. We will include them when making plans and decisions about the care of the person they look after.

Communication and inclusion

• We will talk to carers in a way that is clear, kind, and easy to understand.
• We will listen to carers and take what they say seriously when making decisions.

Staff awareness and training

• We will train hospital staff, so they understand what carers do and the problems they face.
• Staff will learn how to treat carers with kindness and respect.

Information and guidance

• We will give carers the right information at the right time. This includes help to understand hospital rules, looking after someone, and where to find support.

Hospital processes

• We will make hospital systems easier for carers to use and less stressful.
• We will ask carers for their ideas and use them to make things better.

Wellbeing and facilities

• We will tell carers about places in the hospital where they can rest and get snacks.
• We will also let them know about support for their feelings and wellbeing.

Our carers leaflet has been specifically created to help support those with caring responsibilities by providing essential information, helpful resources, and practical advice.  Our goal is to ensure that you have the knowledge and support needed to navigate your caregiving journey with confidence.

Read our leaflet for carers to find out how we can support you.

We have designated rest areas and quieter spaces throughout our hospitals, including courtyard gardens and indoor café areas. These spaces are available for use by all visitors, including unpaid carers, to provide a more peaceful environment for relaxation and respite.

AccessAble is here to take the chance out of going out. To give you the detailed information you need to work out if a place is going to be accessible to you. Their detailed access guides tell you all about a venue's access. They are 100% facts, figures and photographs. Visit our hospital pages on AccessAble to help plan your visit.

Find out more about our facilities and what’s available on site by clicking here.

Carers are offered the flexibility to be involved when most needed, and we understand that this may be outside of our normal visiting hours. Carers are welcome to stay and visit for longer, including overnight where possible.

We support John’s campaign and staff are encouraged to take a flexible approach to visiting hours and make reasonable adjustments as needed to support treatment and care.

Involving carers can help to minimise distress and remove barriers to enable people to receive care. For example, being flexible to allow a Carer to stay longer or accompany someone in hospital would be a reasonable adjustment to support people living with dementia. See more information for carers about how we follow John’s Campaign.

This approach can also be used to support people with a sensory impairment or communication needs, autistic people, people who experience anxiety or other mental health conditions, people who have a learning disability, and people with other disabilities or complex needs.

Please talk to the nurse in charge to plan for visiting outside of normal hours and to arrange overnight stays.  Carers under the age of 18 are not able to stay overnight.

Visit our visiting page helpful information and guidance around visiting.

We understand that managing hospital appointments can be challenging, particularly if you are a carer or rely on someone else to help you with your care.

There are several easy ways to reschedule or cancel your appointment – find out how here.

If you are an unpaid carer and would like to be involved in this carers improvement work, you can contact the Patient Experience Team on:

• yhs-tr.PatientEDI@nhs.net
• Or by calling 01904 725556

You can register your interest to take part in our yearly unpaid carers experience survey by using the details above.