North Lanarkshire Carers Together

Brief description:

Commissioned Information and Advice Service for carers and professionals in North Lanarkshire.

Organisation name:

North Lanarkshire Carers Together

Type of break:

Carer Breaks, Clubs or Day Facilities for Short Break/Respite Purposes, Sitter Service, Information Providers

Care needs catered for:

Autistic Spectrum Disorder, Carer Support, Dementia, Drug or Alcohol Misuse, Hearing Impairment, Infirm and Elderly, Learning Disability, Medical Condition, Mental Health, Physical Disability, Visual Impairment

Ages catered for:

Young People, Adults, Older Adults

How do people access your service:

Contact our team by phone, email, or social media for information and advice on supporting you as a carer living in North Lanarkshire.

Full service description:

The staff at the office will usually be the first people you speak to when contacting NLCT. We will listen to you, understand the type of information or advice you are looking for, and aim to provide this in a way that you can
understand and ensure it is of value to your needs.

Description

Contracted by North Lanarkshire Health and Social Care Partnership, North Lanarkshire Council and Community Solutions, North Lanarkshire Carers Together (NLCT) are the Information and Advice Service for carers and professionals and are also Carer Support Network Leads.

NLCT offer a range of services ensuring carers rights and needs are known, upheld, and considered as part of local and national policy and guidance development.

Initial Contact Support

The staff at the office will usually be the first people you speak to when contacting NLCT. We will provide a listening ear, understand the type of information, advice or service(s) you are looking for, and aim to provide this in a way that you can understand and ensure it is of value to your needs. Our dedicated Information & Engagement Team will look after you at a time which carers often describe as difficult when reaching out for support.

Independent Carer Advocacy

NLCT Independent Carer Advocacy Service is available to adult carers over 18 years of age living in North Lanarkshire. The service ensures that carers have full access to their rights as outlined within the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016. We know that health and social care systems can often be difficult to navigate, coupled with the fact that many people struggle to understand their rights as unpaid carers, and our service seeks to address those issues.

Carer Support Network

NLCT facilitate and coordinate this programme of work. Since the end of 2021 carers have been able to access new services across North Lanarkshire that provide short breaks from their caring roles and allow them to take some quality time out for themselves. In partnership with Health & Social Care, NLCT supported the consultation of carers on the design of these new services. Carers told us that service providers needed to think outside the box and address the need for time out that didn’t only take the form of an annual short break grant, or holiday, and a break that was easily accessible and regular in the community. A range of Carer Breather funded projects across North Lanarkshire have now been set up to offer activities carers said they wanted. These include art therapy, health and wellness activities, holistic support, and groups supporting people caring for loved ones with learning disabilities or living with long term conditions.

Carer Aware

NLCT have designed and deliver Carer Aware Workshops for our partners and carer groups across North Lanarkshire to ensure carers and services are informed on the rights carers have. These sessions empower carers to access support and services, and supports our partners to best provide support and services to the carers they come into contact with. The course is interactive with attendees encouraged to participate in discussions to facilitate and support peer learning.

Carer Forum

NLCT’s Carer Forum is a group of carers who meet in person or digitally 4 times a year, and online via a closed social media platform to help shape local and national policy that affects carers and the people they care for. It is an important role and ensures carers’ collective voices are heard by policy makers. The Carer Forum has formed responses to the Scottish Government on upcoming changes to Carers Allowance, to the proposed National Care Service, and helped shape new services that provide short breaks for carers. The forum ensures carers are at the heart of new services in North Lanarkshire and NLCT’s guiding principle is ‘We Asked, You Said, We Did’.

Carer Podcast

NLCT were delighted to launch our new podcast, Carers Together early in 2022. A podcast is an audio programme, a little like a talk radio programme, but you subscribe to it on your smartphone, tablet or laptop and listen to it at any time which suits you. A great way to spend a spare half hour for some you time! Our inaugural podcast was an interview with the Still Game actor Jane McCarry who spoke at length about her caring role. You can find NLCT Carers Together podcast on all the usual Android, Apple and Spotify platforms.

Price information:

No cost.

Organisation providing this information:

North Lanarkshire Carers Together

Quality Assurance Accreditation:

OSCR

Accessible bedrooms:

Single

Bedroom accessibility:

Electric bed

Bathroom accessibility:

Level entry wet floor shower

General accessibility:

Level entry to premises or ramp available, Parking available by premises

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