31 July 2024

 

 

Dear Member or other Caregiver,

 

 

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR ALL CAREGIVERS IN GATESHEAD

 

Gateshead Carers Association’s current contract with Gateshead Council and the Integrated Care Board (ICB NHS) for the delivery of carer services in Gateshead ends on 31^st August 2024. The new contract commencing on 1^st September 2024 has been awarded to another organisation.

 

Unfortunately and with great sadness, I have to inform you that all of our existing services will end on 31^st August 2024.

 

Trustees and all staff are devastated by this news as I’m sure many of you will be. We are expecting hundreds of people, who are receiving support or have previously received support from Gateshead Carers, to be contacting us on hearing this news. As a result, you may find it difficult to reach us by phone due to the volume of calls we are expecting to receive. If you can, please contact us via email with any questions you have and we will respond as soon as we can.

 

Attached to this letter are the answers to some of the questions we think people will be asking. This will be available on our website and will be updated with the answers to any other questions people ask.

 

The new contract, starting on September 1^st 2024, has been awarded by Gateshead Council and the Integrated Care Board (IBC NHS) to Carers Federation Limited. It should be fully operational and offering all caregiver services in Gateshead from September 1^st 2024.

At this point in time, I only have the address and contact details (below) for their office based in Nottingham. I have no information on how Carers Federation Limited will deliver services for caregivers.

 

Carers Federation Limited

Christopher Cargill House, 21-23 Pelham Road,

Sherwood Rise, Nottingham, NG5 1AP

 

Tel: 07740410314

Email: [email protected]

 

You can find out more about Carers Federation Limited by visiting their website.

 

Carers Federation Limited website: www.carersfederation.co.uk

 

If you have any questions, comments or queries for Gateshead Council and the Integrated Care Board (ICB NHS), please contact them directly. You can do this by;

 

Email: [email protected]

 

 

Carers Federation Limited and Gateshead Council have requested that we provide them with your personal contact details. We cannot do that without your explicit permission as required under the General Data Protection Regulation.

 

If you wish us to transfer (pass on) your personal contact details to Carers Federation Limited and Gateshead Council, please confirm this by sending an email or letter to us by Friday 16^th August 2024.

 

Email: [email protected]

 

Post: Consent

Gateshead Carers

John Haswell House,

8-9 Gladstone Terrace

Gateshead, NE8 4DY

 

Our current staff have the opportunity to transfer their employment to Carers Federation Limited under the Transfer of Undertakings Protection of Employment Regulations (TUPE). At the moment we do not know how many colleagues will decide to do that. Some will and some are seeking alternative employment.

Whatever choice colleagues make it is, unfortunately and with great sadness, that I have to inform you that the majority of staff will no longer be employed by Gateshead Carers Association after 31^st August 2024. We will no longer be able to provide support as we have done.

 

Importantly, Gateshead Carers Association is NOT closing down.

 

Over the next few weeks, we will be consulting on and developing our new approach. We believe our members and other caregivers in Gateshead will be excited by the opportunities it brings for real change.

 

We all know that for people providing unpaid care, the demands in terms of number of hours per week providing care and the number of years providing care are increasing. We know the impact of providing care on the physical, mental and financial health of unpaid carers is worsening. We know that unpaid carers effectively contribute £600 million per year to the health and social care system in Gateshead. Despite this, we know that unpaid carers do not feel recognised or valued by national government, local government and health services. We also know that the legal rights of people providing unpaid care are often ignored.

 

The absolute focus in our new approach will be on ‘unpaid carers rights’. Our commitment will be to drive change through formal local complaints procedures, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, the Health Service Ombudsman and if necessary, challenge at the High Court through the process of Judicial Review.

 

We will support people providing unpaid care through all stages of challenging the decisions and actions of health and social care services.  We will do that for individuals or groups of unpaid carers with a shared interest e.g. parent carers of disabled children, unpaid carers supporting people with mental health challenges.

 

We will monitor all Health and Social Care strategies, policies and procedures to ensure people who have an unpaid caring role are consulted, included, listened to and their legal rights are recognised and reflected in practice.

 

We’ll be in touch with you again about this new approach over the next two or three weeks.

 

I would like to thank you all, on behalf of all trustees and staff, for choosing to come to GCA for support. It has been an honour and a privilege for us to work alongside you. Whilst our way of working will change moving forward, we will do so with energy, passion and determination for the benefit of all caregivers in Gateshead and the surrounding areas.

 

With best wishes,

 

Steve Cowen

Chief Executive Officer

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For more updates, please visit our news webpage.

To read our frequently asked question about this matter, please read our news article.