If something happens to you as a Carer
When you’re caring for a friend or family member who is terminally ill, having a back-up plan is important if something happens to you. If you become ill or have to go into hospital, it’s important to know who can look after the person you care for.
Back-up Carer
You may have a family member or friend who’s willing to look after your loved one if you can’t. If both they and your loved one are comfortable with this, they could be the back-up Carer. You can discuss with them what they would need to do and check they’ve got a copy of your emergency plan (see below). If you or they are worried about how they might cope with particular aspects of care, you can discuss these with your loved one’s GP or district nurse.
Making an emergency plan
You could create a document that includes key aspects of your friend or family member’s health and care. This can make it easier for other people to step in if you’re not able to care for them. The NHS has a Carer’s emergency plan form (PDF) that you can download and fill in.
You can give a copy to your back-up Carer, the district nurse and any other key people involved in your friend or family member’s care. You can also place a copy prominently in your loved one’s home where someone else is likely to find it if you’re not around.
What to include in your emergency plan
Name and contact details for:
- you and the person you care for
- your and their next of kin (closest living relative)
- your back-up Carer
- your friend or family member’s healthcare professionals – their GP, district nurse and specialist nurse.
It should also include:
- your friend or family member’s medical condition
- any communication and mobility issues they have
- a list of medication they’re taking and details of their on-going needs
- information about who has keys and how to access the property
- any key information about the person’s home, for example how to turn the central heating on
- details of any Carer’s emergency plan that been registered with the Local Authority and the phone number to call (see below)
- any Power of Attorney that’s in place
- any advance care plan that has been made.
Involving the Council
It can be reassuring to have the local council involved in case other arrangements fall through or if you don’t have a back-up Carer.
You can have a Carer’s Assessment with the Local Authority to assess your needs. If you're in Scotland, you can have an adult Carer support plan or young carers statement.
The person you’re looking after can also have a Social Care needs Assessment.
At these, the person carrying out the Assessment should ask about emergencies and what arrangements are in place if you’re ill or have an accident.
If you’re not able to care for your friend or family member and there isn’t a back-up Carer, the Council might be able to help. They might arrange for a professional Carer to come to your friend or family member’s home or they might arrange for them to go into a hospice or nursing home.
In some areas, your GP or district nurse might be able to arrange temporary nursing care at short notice to help your friend or family member. This is called a rapid response service. In some areas of the UK, Marie Curie offers this service. Requests for this service have to be made through your friend or family member’s healthcare professionals.
Carer’s emergency card scheme
Your Council may have a carers’ emergency card scheme. If they do, the person carrying out your Carer’s Assessment should be able to tell you about it. You register with the scheme and a worker helps you draw up an emergency plan.
You’re given a card to carry around with you. It has the scheme’s telephone number and a unique identification number. You might also get a key-size fob card to attach to your keyring with the same details on it.
If anything happens to you, someone else can call the scheme and quote the identification number. The people running the scheme can then access your emergency plan and make arrangements for replacement care.
You can ADD the scheme’s details to your written emergency plan (see above).
If you live in Scotland, you can download an emergency or accident card for Carers from Carers Scotland and print it out to carrry around with you.
In Case of Emergency (ICE)
ICE (In Case of Emergency) is a campaign started by a paramedic to help emergency staff quickly find who to contact. You can store the word ICE in your mobile phone address book with the number of the person you’d like people to contact, for example your back-up Carer. If something happens to you, ambulance, police or hospital staff will look for the word ICE in your phone’s address book and call that person. If you have more than one person to contact in an emergency, you can list them as ICE1, ICE2, ICE3.
Your phone may have a lock with a password, in which case other people won’t be able to access your address book. But you can put ICE information on your phone’s lock screen. Your phone instruction manual will have information about how to do this or you can visit Incaseofemergency.org .
Carer’s Allowance and emergencies
You can still get Carer’s Allowance if you temporarily stop caring for someone. If you can’t care for your friend or family member because you’re ill or in hospital, you can claim Carer’s Allowance for up to 12 weeks.