The meeting focused on two main reports. Firstly, an update on the support for unpaid carers and secondly, a dementia developments in the city report. There are three main areas of work focused on unpaid carers, one of which being the Carers Manchester Contact Point. The Contact Point is hosted by Gaddum, working with Manchester Carers Forum, Wai Yin Society and LMCP. The report highlighted that this was a great example of an excellent partnership approach and good communication, and that due to this the Contact Point has been the go to place for carers in the city. The report stated that the Contact Point had developed specialist support for Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnic carers. Transformation and investment funding has created lead provider roles for carers organisations in each locality across Manchester. These are Manchester Carers Centre in North Manchester, African Caribbean Care Group in Central Manchester and Manchester Carers Forum in South Manchester. These VCSE organisations can be contacted directly if more targeted help is required. Nazir Patel, an Outreach Worker from LMCP, spoke about the specific support offered to unpaid carers and their families and the significant impact that targeted advice has on them. Nazir specifically highlighted that a large number of carers do not identify them as carers (there are currently 37,000 people identified as carers but this is likely to be closer to 60,000 due to underreporting) and therefore do not access help and any entitlements. He shared a case study of a family not aware that they were entitled to certain benefits due to their caring responsibilities and they are now £400 better off. The executive Director of Adult Social Care, Bernie Enwright confirmed that by the end of the year, all MLCO staff will be carer aware to support the work with unpaid carers.
The meeting also discussed dementia developments in the city. The report and discussion focused on creating more awareness of what dementia is, who it affects, some of the stigma around it and the support available. The Dementia Steering Group recently refreshed its membership, with an ambition for Greater Manchester to be the best place to live with dementia in the UK. The Steering Group is working with South Asian communities, they are working on a toolkit for mosques and temples and plans to coproduce awareness resources with representatives from South Asian communities - https://dementia-united.org.uk/manchester-increasing-awareness-of-dementia-in-south-asian-communities-in-manchester/.
Sally Ferris, Chief Officer at Together Dementia Support, emphasized the importance of peer support and the beneficial impact of carers being able to support each other. Together Dementia Support facilitate a weekly South Asian Elders support session as well as a GMMH supported wellbeing session for South Asian Elders but she said that the Dementia Steering Group recognised the gap in service provision, especially for South Asian communities. For example, there is no current dementia day care services for South Asian Elders in the city.
NICE guidance states that all people living with dementia should have a care coordinator. The aim is for each primary care network to have at least one dementia care coordinator role.
You can access the recording of the March Health Scrutiny Committee meeting here - https://vimeo.com/event/2903640. To read the reports and meeting papers, visit https://democracy.manchester.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?CId=142&MId=4155&Ver=4.
Contact Lee Walker at [email protected] if you would like to attend or speak at a future meeting.