Commitment to carers recognition
Birmingham Community Healthcare is proud to have received a prestigious award for our commitment to supporting colleagues with caring responsibilities.
The Trust was awarded a Forward Carers 'commitment mark', formally presented as part of a Carer's Rights Day at Trust Headquarters.
Paying tribute to work to support carers in Team BCHC, Forward Carers chief executive Simon Fenton told attendees that around one in three NHS employees have unpaid caring responsibilities, compared to around one in seven in the wider working population.
He said: "Your staff network, your enhanced access to wellbeing support, your clear signposting, and your commitment to creating local care champions all demonstrate a trust that genuinely understands its workforce and is prepared to invest in their wellbeing.
"In a sector where care responsibilities are especially common, BCHC shows how a truly supportive, flexible and compassionate employer can operate. It's actually our volunteer carers who assessed the commitment mark applications and the associated action plan, so that's the view of carers themselves.
"So, congratulations to BCHC, all those involved, and particularly the carer network. That commitment will make an impact, and will make a meaningful difference to all staff and also to the culture of care that you provide everyday, We're truly honoured and proud to continue our partnership with you, so well done!"
During the Carer's Rights Day Event, delegates heard examples of carers' lived experience, presentations on line managers' responsibilities and an update on legislation to protect carers' rights.
Opening the event, BCHC chief executive Richard Kirby said: "We've been on a journey of seeking to take the support for people in Team BCHC who are carers more seriously for quite a while now and I am really grateful to the carers' network for helping us do that.
"Their role as critical friends - raising issues, giving us feedback, helping us think through sensible responses, keeping us on track if something appears to not quite getting the traction it needs - is really, really important. So, I'm very grateful to the network for keeping us moving on this journey.
"It's been really eye-opening just how many in our team have caring responsibilities outside of work, whether it's for children and young people or older people in our families and networks, the more we talk about this, the more we hear stories repeatedly of people providing care. A nd our job as an employer - particularly a healthcare organisation seeking to support people to stay well at home - has to be to do all we can to make it as easy as possible to people who are juggling responsibilities.
"That isn't always easy and I'm not saying we've got this right or we've finished yet. But we are trying to take this issue seriously and we recognise its importance to who we are and what we do; our ability to be a Great Place to Work; and our ability to live up to our Best Care, Healthy Communities vision and shared values."