Young Carers' Project
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In October 2013, Healthwatch Hampshire made contact with Winchester & District Young Carers Group. A short workshop was carried out with the young people (aged 15+) in which they were asked to identify which services were most important to them and why. The workshop identified a number of issues including lack of support at home, problems collecting prescriptions for family members, waiting times for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), and mixed experiences of the ambulance service.
A large amount of feedback was collected throughout the consultation workshops. They created a film which was shown during Healthwatch Week 2014.
The young carers in the film highlighted three key solutions that they would like considered to help improve health and social care services. These were:
A ‘Young Carers ID Card’ for use in health settings to allow them to access more information, collect prescriptions and increase awareness.
Personalised Information Packs for professionals in which Young Carers could record all of their duties and understanding of their caring responsibilities.
Further training for professionals to increase understanding, awareness and responsibilities of young carers.
The group worked with South Central Ambulance Service to improve their staff training to include information on the needs of young carers.