By Andy Hood, Head of Carer Services at Westbank Community Health and Care

My team at Westbank Community Health and Care is privileged to support more than 30,000 unpaid carers across Devon, a service we have now provided for a quarter of a century. This summer, as part of a celebratory year to mark this milestone, we hosted our first Carer Friendly Devon conference at Westbank’s Healthy Living Centre in Exminster. Our aim was to raise awareness of the support available to carers in the community and through the schemes run in partnership with local employers. Throughout Carers’ Week in June, we also organised a raft of free activities and experiences for carers and the cared for, and the month ended on a high with a group of under 18s attending the national Young Carers Festival. 

Social care is a challenging sector to work in so it’s been really uplifting to receive positive feedback from attendees at both our conference and our events. Westbank’s Devon Carers is commissioned jointly by Devon County Council and the NHS Devon Integrated Care Board to provide a broad range of services and assessments to unpaid carers across Devon. Ian Hobbs, Senior Commissioning Manager at Devon County Council, attended our one-day Carer Friendly Devon conference and told attendees: “Supporting unpaid carers is a sign of a civilised society. It’s about more than saving money - it’s the right thing to do.”

He continued, “There’s no doubt that the work Devon Carers does, and how it connects with other partners, is amazing. I am struck by the tone of this event. It’s about partnership and embedding support for carers throughout the whole community.” Thank you to Ian for those kind words. 

The conference also helped us to spread the word to colleagues within the NHS, whose services are underpinned by the work of Devon Carers.  Lucie Hopkins from the NHS Stroke Support Team told us, “We discovered that Devon Carers does loads more than we’d realised. For example, I wasn’t aware of the Break Fund for unpaid carers or the support offered to them at home after a hospital stay.  Nor that the National Trust was so involved in the Carer Friendly Devon scheme. It would be great to see even more organisations getting involved with Devon Carers and providing support for unpaid carers.” I’m pleased to say that more and more employers are coming on board - Powderham Castle was one of the organisations that signed up at the conference to join our Carer Friendly Devon scheme. 

Throughout Carers Week we partnered with The National Trust, Libraries Unlimited, Devon Cycle Hire and Seaton Tramway to provide free experiences and days out for carers and the person they look after. An unpaid carer who enjoyed free entry to the National Trust’s Greenway property in Kingsbridge told us, “We often feel invisible but the activities provided throughout the week by Devon Carers have put carers on the agenda and made us feel visible.” Other events included information stands and access to online advice about money matters. 

As well as supporting adults, we also work with young people aged from 4 to 18 who help look after someone who is ill, disabled or misuses drugs and alcohol. We currently support over 3,000 Young Carers across Devon every year. One of the highlights of our calendar year is the Young Carers Festival, which takes place in Southampton and is the biggest annual gathering of young carers in the world. It is a place where they can have fun, unwind, make new friends and try new things. The impact of young carers coming together in this way has given them a powerful and united voice to raise awareness about the issues they face and has provided a political platform to influence and inform national and local policy.

This year, the event took place over the last weekend of June with an average cost of £350 (including travel) for every Young Carer who attends.  Through the generous support of local organisations, we were able to take 18 young carers - accompanied by 3 staff members and one volunteer - to enjoy a weekend they so thoroughly deserve. 

If you would like to know more about any of our services for carers, or would consider supporting Young Carers, visit www.devoncarers.org.uk to find out more.

This article was first published in Moorlander Magazine.