If you provide unpaid care to a vulnerable person who could not cope without your support, you may be eligible for support and help as a carer.

Anyone can be a carer. Carers can be partners, family members, friends, or neighbours. Recognising you are a carer or a young carer can be an important step in getting the support you need. Becoming a carer can be sudden or it can be a gradual process. You might help with:

  • Medical support such as managing medicines and appointments
  • Reporting changes/deterioration in the person you are caring for
  • Emotional support including observing, advocating, communicating, remembering, explaining and reassuring
  • Practical support such as filling in forms, applying for benefits
  • Personal care
  • Helping with everyday tasks, such as shopping or cooking

What can we help with?

Please tell us if you provide care for a patient or you are coming to terms with caring as a result of a new health condition. We will help you to consider what help you may need to support you in a caring role as well as making plans for life post-discharge from hospital.

Carers Clinical Liaison Service

If you provide unpaid care for someone who is being treated under the care of the Trust, you could benefit from our Carers’ Clinical Liaison Service. This service is for you as a carer. The service provides:

  • emotional support
  • wellbeing checklist and support planning
  • information and advice
  • advocacy and liaison with clinical staff
  • carers’ passports and carers’ agreements
  • emergency planning
  • discharge support
  • referrals for onwards support
  • discharge summaries to GPs, employers, social services, schools and more

If you would like to be referred, please ask any clinician to refer you to the Carers Clinical Liaison Service at Kingston Hospital via bleep, email or telephone extension.

Carer’s Passport

Staff in our hospital can provide you with a Carer’s Passport.

This means you are welcome to be involved in the care of the person you support as soon as they are admitted to hospital. The passport will allow you to:

  • visit out of normal visiting hours
  • provide assistance with personal care, meals, and drinks in hospital
  • be actively involved meetings about the person’s treatment and care
  • be involved in discussion and planning for the discharge of the person you are caring for
  • provide support to the person you care for when they are having tests in the hospital
  • have access to regular drinks whilst on the ward
  • potentially stay overnight, depending on which ward the patient is in
  • receive information about local support organisations, social care departments, and places to find out more about your rights as a carer
  • receive 10% discount on hot food in the hospital restaurant (Level 2, Kingston Surgical Centre)

Please discuss with the Nurse in Charge of the ward and they will complete it with you.

Young Carers Covenant

The Trust has signed the Carers Trust’s Young Carers Covenant, pledging our support to take practical and meaningful action to support young carers and young adult carers.  There is more information for young carers here.

Supporting someone in hospital

If someone you care for is in hospital and you wish to continue providing care whilst they are here, please complete our carer’s agreement alongside the nursing staff on the ward.

Social services can arrange for you to have a carer’s assessment if you request one. This may help you get practical support, if you qualify. This can include financial support, but you may also be able to claim Carer’s Allowance or Carer’s Credit, which protects your right to a state pension later in life.

If you are finding it hard to cope or worried about coping when your cared for person is discharged home, talk to someone about how you are feeling. You could talk to a friend, your GP or contact your local carers’ group. Here are some useful links:

Dementia and Delirium Team

Phone: 0782340296

Email: khft.forgetmenot@nhs.net

Learning Disability Liaison Team

Telephone: 0208 934 6895 or dial 6895 from an internal phone

Email: khft.learningdisabilityteam@nhs.net

If you have any accessibility needs, please refer to our location maps on on AccessAble.