Local NHS provider gets double award to mark Carer’s Rights Day

Nottinghamshire Carers Association (NCA) have awarded the Carer-friendly Employer Quality Mark to Primary Integrated Community Services (PICS) and the Carer-friendly Service Quality Mark for their Care Navigation service. 

PICS, a local provider of NHS services, held an event at Nottingham Business Park to mark Carer’s Rights Day and celebrate ‘their innovative approach to caring for their staff and patient carers’. 

PICS is the first organisation that the NCA has accredited as an employer and a service-provider. This means that carers in the workforce and carers in the community are all supported by PICS, which was formed in Eastwood by a GP and Practice Manager nine years ago.  

The accreditation shows that PICS supports employees by:

• acknowledging and supporting informal Carers within the organisation;

• having a trained Carers Champion; and

• ensuring policies and procedures are inclusive of Carers. 

The Care Navigation Service, which enables people living with long term conditions to manage their condition and remain independent, has: 

• made sure to ask every person if they look after someone, or if someone looks after them; and 

• offered to update the carer’s GP Surgery record, so they get even more support in the future.  

PICS now has three Carer-friendly Quality Marks following the Social Prescribing Service accreditation earlier this year and is working to accredit more services. 

During the special presentation, Stephanie Smith and Jayne Davies from the Nottinghamshire Carers Association (NCA) presented the awards to Emma Alder, PICS Carer Champion, and Nicky Render, PICS Care Navigation team manager. Deputy Directors, Dr Paul Scullard and Karen Frankland and members of the Care Navigation team, Carer Champions and staff from other services also attended to help raise awareness of the rights of carers.  

Dr Paul Scullard, local GP and Deputy Medical Director of PICS said: “I am really proud of my colleagues at PICS who do a fantastic job in caring for each other, our patients, and our communities. Our caring culture and innovative approach means we can make a real impact across Nottinghamshire and help support people and their families to achieve better health and wellbeing. By working together to empower carers, we can enable early interventions and care for the carers well before they reach breaking point.”

Emma Alder, Quality and Clinical Governance Lead Nurse and Named Nurse for Safeguarding said: “Thank you to Jayne and NCA for all their training and support. At PICS our core value is that we care, and for us that means caring about our colleagues as much as we care about our patients and communities.”

Jayne Davies, Employer Liaison Worker, said: “It is my delight to present PICS with this award and recognise the amazing work from PICS to support Carers. I want to thank the team at PICS for the very positive and engaging experience of working with them. 

PICS have looked carefully at how they identify Carers, thought about how to encourage them to come forward, and how to tell them about the support available to them. They offer special leave, provides a Carer’s passport and supports a Carer Champion Network, for example.  

Carers in employment often don’t want to come forward. We provide training for employers so they can encourage Carers in their workforce to let them know and support them with information and resources.”

The ceremony was part of the UK’s annual Carers’ Rights Day which is highlighting what Caring Costs. The national campaign is encouraging everyone to come together to spread the word about what life is like for unpaid carers, promote where they can go for help and support, and make them aware of their rights and how to access them.