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  • About us
    • About us
    • Our approach to working together
      • Our approach to working together
      • Bradford Local Plan
      • Calderdale Local Plan
      • Kirklees Local Plan
      • Leeds Local Plan
      • Wakefield Local Plan
      • We stand together
    • Our mission, values and behaviours
    • Our 10 big ambitions
    • Our key achievements in 2023/24
    • Our partners
      • Our partners
      • Proud to be a partnership
      • West Yorkshire Hospice Collaborative
    • Partnership CEO lead
    • Integrated Care Board Chair
    • Partnership Board
    • Non-executive opportunities in the NHS
    • Our Race Equality Network
  • West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board
    • West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board
    • About our Integrated Care Board
      • About our Integrated Care Board
      • Who's who
      • Our partners
      • Integrated Care Board constitution
      • Committees
      • Governance
        • Governance
        • National Fraud Initiative
        • Lists and registers
      • Equality, diversity and inclusion
      • Improving the diversity of our leadership
      • About integrated care systems
      • How we use data
      • General Practice information
      • Emergency preparedness, resilience and response
      • ICB organisational structure
    • Places
      • Places
      • Bradford District and Craven
      • Calderdale
      • Kirklees
      • Leeds
      • Wakefield District
    • Meetings
      • Meetings
      • Annual General Meetings (AGMs)
        • Annual General Meetings (AGMs)
        • Annual General Meeting - 24 September 2024
      • Integrated Care Board
        • Integrated Care Board
        • Board engagement sessions
      • Audit Committee
      • Finance, Investment and Performance Committee
      • Quality committee
      • Remuneration and Nomination Committee
      • Transformation Committee
      • Place committees
    • Documents
      • Documents
      • Annual Report and Accounts
        • Annual Report and Accounts
        • Integrated Care Board Annual Report 2023-24
        • Annual Report and Accounts 2022-23
      • Commissioning policies and contract updates
      • Governance documents and policies
      • Reports and plans
      • Our Joint Forward Plan 2024
      • Publication scheme
      • Medicines classification and guidelines
      • NHS continuing healthcare
      • Disclosure log
      • Corporate policies
      • Zero tolerance
      • Accreditation for the award of contracts
      • Modern slavery statement
      • People Strategy 2024-2027
    • Involvement
    • Contact
      • Contact
      • Submit a question to the Board
      • Submit an information request
        • Submit an information request
        • Subject Access Request
      • Comments, concerns and complaints
      • NHS continuing healthcare
    • News
    • Partnership website
  • Our priorities
    • Our priorities
    • The difference our Partnership is making
    • Cancer
    • Capital and estates
    • Children, young people and families
    • Digital technology
    • Hospitals working together (WYAAT)
    • Improving population health
    • Innovation and improvement
    • Long term conditions and personalised care
    • Medicines and prescribing
    • Maternity care
    • Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism
    • Power of Communities
    • Planned care
    • Primary and community care
      • Primary and community care
      • Dental services
        • Dental services
        • Improving dentistry in West Yorkshire
        • Community dental services
      • Respiratory Care
      • Virtual wards
    • Suicide prevention
    • Supporting carers
      • Supporting carers
      • Carers hospital discharge toolkit
    • Urgent and emergency care
    • Vaccination and immunisations
    • Workforce
      • Workforce
      • Allied Health Professions
      • Mental Health, Learning Disability and Autism workforce
      • People Plan
      • Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub
      • System and Leadership Development
      • Racial Inequalities Training
      • The Race Equality Network
  • News
    • News
    • Blogs
    • Podcasts
  • Meetings
    • Meetings
    • Our Partnership Board
      • Our Partnership Board
      • Partnership Board papers
        • Partnership Board papers
        • West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Board meeting - Tuesday 7 March 2023
        • West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Board meeting - Tuesday 6 June 2023
        • West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Board meeting - Tuesday 5 September 2023
        • West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Board meeting - Tuesday 5 December 2023
        • West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Board meeting - Tuesday 5 March 2024
        • West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Board meeting - Tuesday 16 July 2024
      • Board membership
      • Ask the Partnership Board a question
      • Partnership Board webcast
    • Supporting ethnic minority communities and staff - review panel
    • NHS West Yorkshire Integrated Care Board
  • Publications
    • Publications
    • The difference our partnership is making (case studies)
    • Our Joint Forward Plan 2024
    • West Yorkshire Integrated Care Strategy 2023
    • Our People Plan 2021-25
    • Tackling health inequalities for ethnic minority communities and colleagues
    • Ethical Framework for West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership
    • West Yorkshire Suicide Prevention Strategy 2022-27
    • Easy reads
    • Other publications
    • West Yorkshire Public Involvement Report 2023-24
    • West Yorkshire ICB Placement Strategy
    • Power of one power of many
  • Campaigns
    • Campaigns
    • Leaving a Gap
    • All hands in
    • West Yorkshire Suicide Prevention Champions
    • Check-in: staff suicide prevention campaign
    • Check-in with your mate
    • Looking out for our neighbours
    • Root Out Racism
    • Together We Can
    • Medicines Safety campaign
    • #MumsCan quit smoking
    • Rightsizing - your home, your choice
    • Speak with a midwife
      • Speak with a midwife
      • Speak with a midwife - for health & care professionals
    • Find out how you really are
    • Seriously Resistant
    • Reasonable Adjustments
    • Mental Health, Learning Disabilities, and Autism Healthcare Support Worker recruitment
    • Maternal Mental Health
    • Gloves off
    • #LetsConnect
    • Vaccinations and immunisations
    • #AutismADHDAllies
    • Midwifery careers
  • Involvement
    • Involvement
    • Get involved
      • Get involved
      • Non-emergency patient transport
      • West Yorkshire Voice
        • West Yorkshire Voice
        • Join West Yorkshire Voice today
        • West Yorkshire Voice communications resources
        • West Yorkshire Voice newsletter
        • West Yorkshire Voice members' page
        • How your voice has helped
      • Health and Care Champions
      • Building a new equity and fairness strategy for West Yorkshire
      • Change NHS: Helping shape a health service fit for the future
      • Perinatal Pelvic Health Service – Patient experience
      • Help shape the future of obesity services in West Yorkshire, Humber and North Yorkshire
      • West Yorkshire mental health crisis support - Your experiences and feedback
    • Previous involvement
    • Consultation
    • Working in partnership
      • Working in partnership
      • Wider Involvement Network
    • Evaluating our involvement
    • Co-production
    • Working with Healthwatch
    • Involvement framework
    • Involvement and consultation mapping report
    • West Yorkshire Public Involvement Report 2023-24
    • Communication and involvement plan
  • Contact us
    • Contact us
    • Any questions?
      • Any questions?
      • You said, we did...
      • Frequently asked questions
      • Integrated Care Jargon Buster

Looking after the person you care for

Caring for someone can be very distressing and confusing. You are important so you also need to look after yourself. And, you may also have additional responsibilities that you are trying to juggle, such as children, work and maybe your own ill health. Don't struggle alone - make use of the many different types of help and support that is available.
Caring safely at home

The Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) has developed a video-based resource designed to help people look after someone safely at home. Each section has a set of videos designed to give practical and relevant information to support carers day-to-day. The videos cover how to help manage certain conditions and may be particularly useful for carers who are supporting someone during the Covid-19 crisis but these will also be very useful post covid.

If you live with those you care for

If you think you've been in close contact with someone with confirmed coronavirus, take extra precautions to self- isolate and check if you have symptoms using the coronavirus helpline symptom checker. For more details on protecting those at highest risk, this NHS page has some useful practical suggestions on how you can look after yourselves. You’ll find answers to current common concerns at coronavirus - further support.

If you do not live with those you care for

We suggest you keep in regular contact over the phone, through email or through video calls. Families may want to think about spending time together in a different way – for example, by setting up a group chat or playing online games together. If online communication isn't possible, never underestimate the value of a regular phone call to offer social contact and support. If you care for someone who is hard of hearing, consider writing them a letter.

What’s the advice if I have care workers and other home help?

The NHS guidance is now very clear. Visits from people who provide essential support such as healthcare, personal support with daily needs or social care should continue. Carers, like yourself, and paid care workers must stay away if you or they have any of the symptoms of coronavirus but otherwise follow the 2 metre guidance where possible and practise good hygiene to protect yourself and your loved ones.

The person I care for is vulnerable

During this time, you can only provide support to vulnerable people if all of the following apply:

  • you are well and have no symptoms like a cough or high temperature and nobody in your household does;
  • you are under 70;
  • you are not pregnant; and
  • you do not have any long-term health conditions that make you vulnerable to coronavirus.

If you provide care for someone who is vulnerable and fall into any of these categories or you have symptoms of coronavirus you may need to arrange alternative care. Contact your local council if this is the case. Any health or social care services you're already receiving, through your local authority, will continue and your health or social care provider will be asked to take additional precautions to make sure you are protected.

Home care services visit the person I care for

The government has provided specific guidance about home care services. Let friends and family know that they should only visit if providing essential care such as washing, administering medication, dressing and preparing meals.
All people coming into the home should wash their hands with soap and water for at least 20 seconds on arrival and often during their visit. Talk to the person you care for about the hygiene and infection control measures they should expect someone coming into their home to follow. They should not be afraid to insist that these are followed.
If you have a care worker employed by an agency ask them what protective measures they are taking and how they plan to respond if any of their staff are affected. If the care worker shows symptoms of coronavirus, inform the agency. They will need to carry out a risk assessment and take steps to protect staff, their families and all clients from the virus. The agency should work with you to ensure that the person you care for is also safe.

My loved one has Covid-19, how do I care from them at home?

The coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak is particularly worrying for unpaid carers. Many people will have been thrown into the caring role, rapidly and unprepared. Those who are already existing carers (e.g. for those with long-term conditions) may see their role change as new caring tasks are required. This guide to caring for your loved one offers practical advice and tips that hopefully will help you look after your loved one and manage new symptoms such as breathlessness, cough, fever and pain at home during this difficult time.
It includes topics such as:

  • Management of Covid-19 and minimising infection risk (cleaning, waste, laundry)
  • Keeping yourself safe
  • Looking after yourself in self isolation
  • Where to go for further advice
  • Managing the symptoms of Covid-19

NHS Open As Usual.pngRemember the NHS is open as usual

Whilst it is extremely important to follow government advice to stay at home during this time, it can be confusing to know what to do if the person you care for is unwell or injured. Remember that NHS 111, GPs and hospitals are still open and providing the same safe care that they always have.
It's still important to get medical help if you or your loved one need it. The following will help you make sure you choose the right service
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If you need further help for your loved one, or for yourself

Your local council and voluntary carer groups have lots of help and support available for you to access:

Local councils

  • Bradford Council
  • Calderdale Council
  • North Yorkshire County Council
  • Kirklees Council
  • Leeds City Council
  • Wakefield Council

Voluntary carer groups

Carers UK is a free national organisation that can help you with all your support and caring needs, their aim is to make life better for carers. 

Most areas have local voluntary carer organisations that offer support in the area you live in.

Click here to find yours.

Our Partners

Bradford Council: Home
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Kirklees Council
Leeds City Council
North Yorkshire Council
Wakefield Council
Airedale Foundation Trust
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust
Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust
Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust
Leeds and York Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Leeds Community Healthcare (LCH)
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
Yorkshire Ambulance Service
NHS England
Healthwatch
Locala Community Partnerships CIC
Spectrum Community Health CIC
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