Carers of people with learning disabilities

GP practices can use the Learning Disability Annual Health Check as an opportunity to add the details of family carers to their carers register.

Family carers are entitled to a Needs Assessment in their own right. The carer’s assessment is a chance to let Adult Services know what type of extra support is needed to help those in your caring role.

The easiest way to get started is to complete the online form. This gives North Lincolnshire Council’s Family Carer Team some background information about you. Using the online form means you can take as long as you like completing it. It gives the time you need to really think about how caring for someone affects your wellbeing, or quality of life.

Alternatively, the Family Carer Team can be contacted on 01724 298393 and they will arrange for someone to visit.

For further information about support for carers, please visit the North Lincolnshire Council Adult Information Hub

Family Carer Support Service

Family Carer Support Service (FCSS) offers a Freephone support service for family and carers of people with learning disabilities.

The support service, which is run by Hft (formerly known as the Home Farm Trust) – the learning disabilities charity, offers free telephone support, including from mobiles, between 8.30am and 4.30pm during weekdays. Support can be accessed using The Big Word telephone translation service which is available for people who don’t speak English.

The Freephone number is 0808 801 0448.

The FCSS is the only free national support service for family members and carers of adults with learning disabilities. Support provided via the Freephone service includes helping family and carers to understand their rights, the law, how to navigate health and social care systems and challenge decisions.

Carers are keen for good quality of learning disability health checks. The Learning Disability Carers Community and Karen Tyson’s Page produced a survey to investigate the uptake of annual health checks for adults with learning disabilities and to investigate their quality.