Welcome to the latest edition of our carers newsletter, providing carers and relatives with information on the support available within the Trust and the county.
Carer updates
New Carer Badge
Our Carers Team and Carers Council have co-produced a new carer badge to go with our lanyard and carer passport.
If you would like one, please contact our dedicated email address lpft.
Carer Champions
We now have two new carer champions! Stacey joined Ellis Ward as co-carer champion in August 2023, and Natasha has covered Ash Villa since last November.
Carer's Leave Act 2023 Coming into force on 6 April 2024!
Carers UK will provide further updates once Parliament and Carers UK pass the draft regulations. More information can be found on the Carers UK Website.
Carer respite opportunity
Carers First have membership of a carer respite scheme, which allows carers to access breaks on an annual basis. Carefree transform vacant accommodation into vital breaks for unpaid carers across the UK. The offer costs £33 for a carer to take another person to a selected hotel for up to two nights. Take a break!
For more information, visit www.
Support and advice
LPFT
One-to-one support/individual advice
You can email any questions, queries or concerns to our dedicated carers email address at lpft.
You can also contact us if you would like a one-to-one call, even if it's just for a chat!
Lincolnshire County Council - general support for carers
Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) has a general advice page for carers which has information on a range of topics, including benefits and entitlements, emergency care planning and carers assessments.
More information can be found online at www.
North East Lincolnshire
There is now a single point of access (SPA) in North East Lincolnshire.
You can call NAViGO on 01472 256256, option 3 for 24/7 mental health support in North East Lincolnshire.
North East Lincolnshire - Young Carers Assessment
The link below gives outline information for young carers and adult carers in the north east Lincolnshire area. It also contains a telephone number to enable people to contact the Carers Team and request an assessment.
Information for The Young Carers Team can found on the web page below.
Older People and Frailty
Older People & Frailty Division Support
If you require any information from our Older People & Frailty Division, please contact us via email (lpft.
Alternatively, you can contact the Witham Court reception on 01522 500690 and they will take a message for you and direct this to the Older People & Frailty Carers Team.
Visiting wards
Please speak to the ward staff before planning a visit to one of our wards. We encourage you to wear a mask when visiting a loved one.
If you are caring for someone in our Older Adults Inpatient Services and would like to send messages, letters or photographs, these can also be sent to our email address and we will ensure they are printed and given to your loved one.
LPFT Dementia Support Service
If you or someone you know has been diagnosed with dementia or mild cognitive impairment, our Dementia Support Service can offer you information and guidance on how to live as well as possible with the diagnosis. We can provide information and guidance relating to the diagnosis, as well as supporting carers/ loved ones with how they can support the person living with the diagnosis, as well as maintain their own wellbeing.
If you would like more information about this service, email lpft.
Useful numbers and contacts
Age UK - Providing support for older people and their carers, inc. regular telephone friendship service.
Advice Line Tel: 0800 678 1602
Web: www.
Alzheimer’s Society - Providing support for people with dementia and their carers.
Tel: 01522 692681 or the Dementia Connect Support Line 0333 150 3456
Email: lincoln
Dementia UK - Providing support for people with dementia and their carers.
Admiral Nurse Dementia Helpline
Tel: 0800 888 6678 Web: www.dementiauk.org
Young carers and adult carers
Young carers
Often, young carers supporting someone with poor mental health are not recognised as such, yet trying to help someone who may be really distressed can be one of the hardest things to do. Young carers may be offering compassion, empathy and encouragement to parents struggling with their mental health by talking to them, listening and trying to understand their problems. Often, young carers worry about the person they care for while they are at school, making it hard to concentrate. They may be unable to spend time with friends and feel lonely and isolated. Young carers supporting someone with poor mental health are not as readily identified as those young people who carry out more practical care.
Contact youngcarers
Here4You advice line for children, young people, parents and carers
Lincolnshire children, young people, parents and carers can contact the Here4You advice line for mental health and emotional wellbeing problems on 0800 234 6342 (24/7). More information can also be found at www.
Carers support for adult carers
If you are aged 18+ and support a relative or friend with tasks such as washing and dressing, paying bills, transport, emotional support, health appointments, medication and domestic tasks, you can get help with your caring responsibilities. This can be accessed by arranging an initial conversation with the Lincolnshire Carers Service.
The team will discuss your caring role and any problems you are experiencing and then work with you to find solutions. There is a huge range of support that is available to unpaid carers within the county including information and advice, benefits support, regular newsletter and updates about events happening in the community, a Carers Emergency Response Plan (CERS). If the team are unable to resolve a problem during our initial conversation then a statutory Carers Assessment may be considered if your needs are complex and require more specialist and on-going support.
If you have not already accessed support in your caring role and would like to, you can contact lpft.carers@nhs.net for more information.
If you would like to complete the referral yourself you can contact Lincolnshire County Council Carers Team 01522 782224 or visit https://
Find more information at
Why Carers Ed? A carers story
As any self-respecting teacher or journalist would tell me that I need to remember the rule of 6 – I will cover the what, where, who, when and how, before I explain the ‘why’ of Carers Ed.
For those of you who don’t know me yet - and I’m hoping this article gives you a chance to do so - I’m a follower of rules. At most, I skirt the very edges of them, but for the purpose of this article I’ll stick to them as closely as possible.
Carers Ed is a group run by Donna Bradford, who is the Head of Carer and Relative Experience for Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT). It’s a group for carers who support people with mental health, neurodivergence or dementia.
It runs bi-weekly on a Thursday evening from 6.30 – 8.00pm, and thanks to the wonders of technology, is held on Microsoft (MS) Teams, where each person who attends can join, chat, and see each other onscreen. Now, I’m just going to address the elephant in the room and put it out there. For those of us who are technologically challenged, but still have a device in your home, I would encourage you not to panic. Yes, I know easier said than done, but once you have navigated the straightforward invitation process, there are plenty of carers to support in how to use MS Teams once you join us.
The benefit of the group being run in the evenings is that it’s the most likely slot that carers can spare the time to attend and the advantage of it being on MS Teams means that no matter where you live, you can be a part of an amazing and supportive group of carers. It’s a friendly and informal group that has a clear focus on informing carers and sharing knowledge; to enable them to better understand their loved one’s condition; and, just as crucially, to understand the services offered and how to navigate them.
Thanks to the amazing reputation of the group and to the many extremely committed and passionate mental healthcare professionals, carers have the opportunity to listen to and speak with each other, psychologists, pharmacists, and many other health professionals from the varied services offered throughout LPFT.
Well, it looks like I’ve covered 5 of my rules of 6 -- so here comes the ‘why’ of it. Why should you attend? Why would it matter to you? Why is it so important? Perhaps it’s best to answer these questions and help you decide by sharing my own experience.
I think there is little doubt that supporting a loved one with mental health difficulties is one of the most difficult challenges you will face. It’s not a tangible thing like a physical health diagnosis and it doesn’t come with a simple step resolution plan or an easy fix. For years, I had been supporting my daughter who had long-standing difficulties with her mental health. Sometimes she was heavily supported by mental health services, and other times it was just me and her trying our best to live with and manage her struggles.
Family and friends struggled to grasp, understand, and maintain a level of compassion. If it couldn’t be fixed with some well-meaning advice and a short amount of time and input, people became frustrated. Criticism and blame would sneak in and lie solely in mine or my daughter’s lap. However, the biggest issue for me was a sense of being utterly alone. By the time my daughter became seriously ill, I was exhausted, overwhelmed, and had lost a great deal of myself in the process. My confidence was at an all-time low. I guess the toolkit I had assembled over the years was like a home-owners DIY version. Not quite the right tools for the job, worn out, of poor quality, and there was no time to maintain and restock them. Joining Carers Ed changed this for me, and I’m so glad I took that step.
Over the years of being with Carers Ed, my toolkit has gradually been upgraded to one any respected tradesman would be proud of. I know how to use each and every one and which tool will work best for the job at the time. Carers Ed was the one constant that changed my approach, gave me hope, and most importantly, helped me understand how different services work and more about my daughter’s diagnosis.
I’ve been attending for over four years now, and rarely miss a session. The ‘why’ of it is simply because there is so much to learn and keep on learning. There is not a session that goes by that I don’t pick up some strategy or useful piece of information that helps me to be a more confident, supported, and better carer.
It can be all too easy to become frustrated and disillusioned with services. Our bad experiences carry more weight and impact than our positive ones. What Carers Ed does is remind me just how talented, committed and understanding professionals are. How they give so much to the people that they treat and support. Their strength gives me strength, and their hopes are mine. By talking and meeting together, we all work towards the goal of supporting the person we care for. We become less polarised and more of a team with common goals.
I’ll admit that over recent years I’ve taken the group for granted as it’s become the standard I expect. But I remind myself that it’s rare to have this level of support, from carers and professionals. We are privileged that people give up their time in the evening to talk with us and freely offer information that helps to build our toolkits and maintain our own wellbeing. It’s a group that works in partnership with carers and professionals with mutual respect to better develop and deliver the best care for our loved ones.
I’ve also forgotten how much I’ve grown thanks to this group. Robin Morgan, an American writer, once said, “Information is power” -- and I guess, in a way, it is. It gives us choices and control when we often feel the lack of them. It helps us to manage expectations and realistically navigate our loved one’s situation; it ensures we maintain our own wellbeing by examining what our role entails; it helps us decide on how we continue to care, but also look after our needs and wants in the process. Because if we’re not OK - if we struggle - we cannot be there in the way our loved one needs.
So, what’s left to say? Take that first step, even if it is a tough one at this point in time - it was for me when I first started this journey. Take in a few meetings to get a feel for it, and if I have a wish that I could grant you, it’s that you develop a toolkit even better than mine. One that will support you just as much as it does the person you care for, and that you have the chance to build new relationships and friendships with other carers, who are the people who truly understand and will be happy to take those steps alongside you.
I hope to see you at the next Carers Ed meeting, and whatever your circumstance and journey, I wish you the very best on the road you take to get there.
Spotlight on...
Lesley Hutton
Hello, I am Lesley Hutton, the Senior Clinical Carers Lead for Older People and Frailty Division (OPFD). I support our community teams, inpatients, and our home treatment teams.
I have been employed by LPFT since 1994, moving from a Health Care Support Worker role to undertake my registered nurse training in 1998. I joined the OPFD in 2019.
Having been a carer myself, I know how it feels to feel alone, isolated and making decisions for someone you love to give them the quality of life they deserve and bring about comfort and dignity.
My role as a Senior Clinical Carers Lead also assists with engagement and development, therefore the role enables me to support our carers by attending Multi-disciplinary Team (MDT) meetings, professional meetings, and general meetings where needed.
At times I support families emotionally through challenging conversations. This is done by just listening or helping them understand strategies or coping strategies about their loved one's presentation or illness.
We support carers by writing care plans and other related person-centred documents that help us understand the loved one they care for and whom we may be caring for. We work with our colleagues and stakeholders who also support carers, and this is done through carers forums and other quality forums led by Donna Bradford, Head of Carer and Relative Experience and Volunteers.
As a nurse, I hope to bring a wealth of knowledge and experience. I like to share and encourage all my carers to engage with their communities. I actively support the LPFT Carers webpage, The Recovery College and the How Are You (HAY) Lincolnshire website. These are great resources for what is available in our community, with the rollout of further training through the Recovery College in relation to carers education.
We also encourage our patients and carers to sign up for other educational resources to upskill themselves and support their education with those resources that are available. The facilitators of the training do such a great job of delivering person-centred resources.
We have two Carer Peer Support Workers in the Older People and Frailty Division, and they support both wards and home treatment pathways across mental health and dementia. They both come with a wealth of personal experience and compassion for all the carers that they are in contact with.
We have had great feedback from our carers, and this is because we have the time to sit and listen and offer guidance. We allow that safe space to talk about being a carer and the frustrations, decisions, and fortitude it takes to be a carer 24/7.
We are developing many new pathways across the Older People and Frailty Division and would seek any carer's views that have a lived experience of care that could help us shape the service to be a centre of excellence. We are hoping to increase carer awareness across the division, and this is supported by bespoke training, resources, peer support groups and carers feedback.
As a Carers Team across the Older People and Frailty Division, we are continually scoping gaps in services, seeking collaboration and engagement in our community. We recognise the need to have access to community larders and community grocery enterprises. We would eventually like to set up a carer’s coffee morning whereby carers and those in a caring role can attend and feel supported.
We know we have lots of work to do and would appreciate any prompts or areas where we can support our carers to have a better and more supportive experience of our service.
Carer support services
LPFT Carers WhatsApp Support Groups
PFT has a Carers WhatsApp Support Group, which is a supportive group that enables carers to share information and advice with one another and acts as a sounding board. It is a closed group and is a safe space to share, ask for advice and chat in general. If you would like to join our support group then please email lpft.
Recovery College courses
Lincolnshire Recovery College offers free educational courses on mental health and wellbeing, and is open to everyone (including carers) aged sixteen and above. The courses are designed and delivered by people with lived experience of mental ill health, qualified trainers and health professionals. The College offers carer specific courses such as one on compassion fatigue and more are being developed with carers needs in mind.
Visit www.
Veterans support in Lincolnshire
Have you or your loved one served in the British Armed Forces? If so, you might benefit from a chat with the Specialist Veterans Service to improve your knowledge of the support available. It might be that the support you receive for your mental health can be enhanced via referral to OpCOURAGE.
Contact our services on 01522 307577
East Midlands OpCOURAGE Tel: 0300 323 0137 or email mevs.
Emotional support line: 0300 323 0139
Help for carers and relatives
Single Point of Access (SPA): 0303 123 4000
Mental Health Helpline: 0800 001 4331 (24/7)
Samaritans: 0330 094 5717
Lincolnshire Carers Service: 01522 782224 Email: carersservice
Healthwatch: 01205 820892 / Email: info
Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS) ULHT: Lincoln County Hospital 01522 707071 ;
Grantham 01476 464861 ; Boston Pilgrim 01205 446243 / Email: pals
Patient Advice & Liaison Service (PALS) LCHS: 0300 123 9553 / Email: LHNT. LincsPALS@nhs.net
LPFT Carers Education and Support Group
Do you care for a family member?
Do you need support and education?
Join our established group, online every other Thursday evening!
For further information on how to join, please email donna.
