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COVID-19 Review Submission – Enable Jersey
As discussed in the last meeting, I have reached out to our members and have received the following feedback; I have summarised this below but wanted to share one of the stories with you as it provides a fuller picture.
• There was little or no support offered directly to the carer.
• No-one appeared to be looking at the carers wellbeing.
• Support was available for the person with the disability, which made a difference.
• There is a belief disabled persons support network would have provided the carer some support if they needed it.
• The carer relied on friends and family for support, if they had not had this in place it may have been more challenging for them.
• Carers should have been offered more support.
• Government professionals were not always available when you needed support / assistance from them.
Feedback:
"I think I was in a fairly good position as my young adult comes under the LD Nursing Team; this meant that I had a named person I could contact for support.
Having said that, their priority was my young adult's health & well-being not mine. However, if I had been struggling this would obviously have had an adverse impact on my
young adult's wellbeing which would have needed addressing.
My young adult's support company was calling in twice a week with shopping as we couldn't go out due to the risk of infection; this provided more contact outside of the home. They also called a few times a week to speak to my young adult.
The third sector being Mencap and Inclusion put on zoom calls predominantly for the young people but inadvertently this offered me support too.
Acorn stood out as having been particularly kind and supportive. They provided zoom calls, visits and dropped off activities to complete at home.
Though all of the above were predominantly for the benefit of my young adult, if I had been struggling it would have been picked up or at least I would have had someone to speak to.
My colleagues from Enable Jersey were kind enough to ask how I was coping which was much appreciated.
On a few occasions I felt the need to question the Health Minister on issues facing us as a family. He always came back to me either with an answer himself or pointing me in the direction of someone who could answer my question.
Finally, though I do count myself as having been fortunate I do think that carers should have been offered more support.
The overwhelming feeling was that the government departments were overworked with people juggling roles; this made it very difficult to locate your usual professionals.
What I have heard from friends is.....A phone call and how are you doing would have meant a lot."