Introduction
Carers, of all ages, play a significant role in preventing the need for more formal care and support for the people they look after. The health and social care system continues to rely heavily on unpaid care. It has a central role in our health economy and there would be a huge cost involved should we need to replace this care.
We recognise in Southend-on-Sea that supporting carers is the responsibility of everyone. This includes organisations working directly with carers and the cared for, across the statutory and voluntary sector, and with the community, and families. We have a shared responsibility to provide an effective, efficient, and co-ordinated service to support carers health and wellbeing.
This strategy has been co-produced with Southend-on-Sea carers and they have helped develop eight priorities for the next five years. The strategy sets out the commitment from both the Council and the NHS Clinical Commissioning Group to carers and describes how we intend to meet the key priorities that carers and the people they care for have told us are most important to them together. It is important to recognise that this joint strategy is just the starting point in an ongoing conversation with carers and relevant stakeholders. It includes a delivery plan which will be co-produced through continued engagement with carers and their support groups. We will continue to review this strategy based on those conversations and the delivery plan will be updated yearly.
You can access the Caring Well Strategy for Southend-on-Sea City Council and Southend Clinical Commissioning Group 2022 - 2027 on the democracy website.