Theme: Know your rights, use your rights
This week we are marking Carers’ Rights Day on Thursday 20 November and to help spread the word about the sort of support available at DCHS for anyone with caring responsibilities away from work, we are promoting five top tips for carers and their managers.
Carers’ Rights, Tip One: Do you know about the DCHS carers’ passport?
A carer’s passport is a document that identifies an unpaid carer and outlines support and benefits they are entitled to from their employer. An NHS carer's passport can document and facilitate flexible working arrangements to help individuals to balance caring and work. A passport is reviewed regularly as a carer’s situation might change over time. A recent survey showed 90% of people with caring responsibilities have gone off sick due to caring.
Carers’ Rights, Tip Two: Do you know about carers’ champions training at DCHS?
The carers’ champion training is about how to recognise a carer and how to support carers in the workplace. The idea is to identify and support carers before they go into carer burnout and need to take time off work.
Carers’ champions will play a key role in supporting and advocating for employees who have caring responsibilities. They will ensure that carers in the workplace are aware of the support and advice available both within the workplace and from external organisations. Carers’ champions will also work proactively to identify carers in the workforce and facilitate access to relevant resources, support networks, and initiatives. The training is carried out via MS Teams and you should allow up to three hours (depending on the number of questions). The next training dates are:
- Tuesday 9 December at 9am
- Thursday 18 December at 1pm
If you are interested, please drop a message to Rosey Perrin, rosey.perrin@nhs.net or dchst.carersnetwork@nhs.net.
Carers’ Rights, Tip Three: Do you know about DCHS managers’ training to support carers?
- DCHS managers are being encouraged to book onto a one-hour training session to help them to recognise and support any carers working in their teams before anyone becomes burnt-out. The training is carried out on MS Teams and takes one hour. You can choose from the following dates and times:
- Wednesday 28 January at 10am
- Monday 23 February at 1pm
- Tuesday 24 March at 10:30am
The managers’ training is a condensed version of the carers’ champion training. It helps managers with how to recognise a carer, perhaps when even the individual concerned hasn’t recognised themself as a caregiver. It might be a situation where a team member is telling their line manager: “I didn’t get much sleep last night because my dad had a fall and it took ages to get him checked over and back into bed”. It’s about training managers to have those conversations: “it sounds like you are a carer? Have you had a carer’s assessment? Should we do a carer’s passport?” If anyone would like to attend the training, or find out more, please message Rosey Perrin on rosey.perrin@nhs.net or dchst.carersnetwork@nhs.net
Carers’ Rights, Tip Four: Do you know there is a national network dedicated to supporting carers?
You can keep up to date with all the latest for carers in the UK by checking into this website Carers Rights Day | Carers UK. Know your rights, use your rights.
And all the DCHS specific information for carers is on this handy page on our intranet: Carers Staff Network.
Carers’ Rights, Tip Five: Do you know we are revising the DCHS Carers’ Policy?
Since the launch of the DCHS Carers’ Staff Network in June 2025 much work has been going on behind the scenes to examine what a newly revised carers’ policy should look like and to learn from the experience of carers where the current policy is not really working.
It is intended to launch the newly revised policy during Carers’ Week in June 2026 and to ensure it meets the highest standards to achieve the Quality Kite Mark.