December 2024

2024 Round Up: What a Year!

We’ve had an incredible year working with our caring community

This year the team at Portsmouth Carers Service has worked hard to enhance the support we offer unpaid carers in the city. Using feedback from carers, we have been able to develop our carers break offering, awareness activities, and assessment process.

One of the main comments from carers, is that there is a need for greater understanding of what is means to be a carer in Portsmouth. In response to this, we launched the Portsmouth Carers Create Book Project. This has introduced a wide range of creative opportunities for carers to express their feelings and improve their wellbeing, encouraging carers to share their experience to raise awareness of carers in Portsmouth.  The carers’ creative pieces will be used to publish a book in Carers Week 2025. The book will have a large audience and the chance to create discussion about caring in the city. If you would like to contribute to this project, you will find creative sessions below where you can come and work on your creative piece. Feel free to call: 02392 851864 and speak to Laura if you would like more information.

In response to the amazing feedback from carers who had enjoyed last year’s Christmas Crafts, this year we have added more crafts/creative activities to the Carers Breaks Programme. Creative Writing, Crochet and Creative Cuppa and Catch-ups have been very popular. We have seen carers who ‘have never written anything’ create incredible poetry and short stories. These relaxed sessions focus on creation, using the different mediums as a way of expressing thoughts and feelings, they can even produce a liberating response to the built-up energy/emotions. Who knew painting could be so therapeutic?

Carers told us they wanted to dance! They said it was impossible to go out in the evenings due to their caring responsibilities and they were exhausted by then too. A Daytime Disco was suggested, and December saw the first CAREFREE: Daytime Disco for Carers. Sherlocks Bar in Southsea generously offered us the use of the venue and DJ for free. We split the cost of the buffet with the carers and the daytime disco was booked! Thirty carers donned their disco outfits, sequins and all. With the curtains drawn and Christmas lights twinkling, an average Wednesday afternoon was transformed into dazzling daytime disco. There was music, there was laughter, there was DANCING! Needless to say, the disco was loved by all, and the feedback was: ‘When is the next one?’.

Here are some more lovely moments from the year:

• Collaboration with Room One, to support their new Loved Ones group for people caring for autistic or neurodivergent adults. From January this will be held weekly every Friday from 12pm to 2pm. The venue will alternate between Room One and Portsmouth Carers Centre. Please contact for more details or click the link here.
• A new South Asian Carers Group was launched at the Carers Centre. The next meeting will be on the 27th January 2025 11am to 12.30pm
• Collaboration with SEND Butterflies South Coast to provide a monthly ‘Carers & Cake’ session for all unpaid carers, held at Portsmouth Carers Centre on the 2nd Tuesday of every month 12pm to 2pm.
• Developed the joint assessment process across Adult Social Care to improve carer recognition and early access to support.
• Hosted drop-in sessions at Portsmouth Carers Centre from Advice Portsmouth,  Remind and Safe at Home Portsmouth.
• We launched new Moving Forward: Life After Caring Information and Support Sessions at Spark Community Space.
• Held a range of Information Sessions for carers including: Emergency Planning, LPA and future planning, and Parkinson Disease.
• Promoting support for and raising awareness of caring by attending a wide range community event and health and social care events around the city.
• Constant training and development from every member of the team to develop their knowledge and improve the service, ensuring we provide a person-centred approach that reflects the needs of each carer as an individual.
• Our most important role is to support carers across the city, and we couldn’t do this without our fantastic assessment team.  Throughout 2024 they have worked tirelessly, completing carers assessments and arranging support for those that need it.
• Over the past 12 months they have completed 629 carers assessments and 181 joint assessments.  In addition to this, we have recently released the Portsmouth Carers Strategy 2025 – 2029 which can be found here.

If you would like to share your feedback about Portsmouth Carers Service, please visit: www.portsmouthcarersservice.co.uk or feel free to call: 02392 851864.

Meet the Team

Putting a friendly face to the voice on the end of the phone

What do you do at the Carers Centre? I work predominantly on reception greeting those who attend the Carers Centre as well as answering calls and queries. I am an Administrator so there is always other tasks to complete and I am learning these bit by bit.

What do you like about working at the Carers Centre? A friendly atmosphere both within the team and with those who use the Carers Centre.

What are three of your character traits? Humming / singing to music without realising that I am doing it. Always helping others, I cannot stand being bored so am always happy to be doing something. I strive to complete things right the first time – a bit of a perfectionist

What do you enjoy doing when you are not working? I love spending time with my family and friend, I do crafts such as jewellery making, keyrings, cards and decorating glass nail files, and I love listening to music.

Favourite quote? Friends are the family you chose for yourself.

Offers for Carers in Portsmouth

Recognising Unpaid Carers in Portsmouth: Taking a Break

We would like to thank The D-Day Story, The Holiday Inn Portsmouth, Peter Ashley Activity Centre, Portsmouth Cathedral Shop, Portsmouth Ice Rink, The Village Hotel, The Pyramids and Victorious Festival for their generous offers to carers in Portsmouth to celebrate Carers Rights Day in November.

Thank you to those who have already shown interest in the Free Bus Travel offer for carers – we will be in contact with you in January to issue the vouchers.

There is still time to take up the offers above.

Please contact Portsmouth Carers Service for more information.

Tel: 02392 851864 or Email: carerscentre@portsmouthcc.gov.uk

Caring from a Distance

For many of us the Christmas holidays are a time when we can visit family who live far away. If you are caring for someone from afar this could also be a good opportunity to discuss how they are getting on. You can check if there have been any changes to their situation and review how the current arrangements for supporting them are working.

A research study from the University of Hull involving long distance carers provides the following suggestions from carers who are caring from a distance:

Look after yourself as much as possible:

It’s possible that the caring situation may continue for some time, “This situation is likely to be a marathon, not a sprint so pace yourself.”

Local carer support groups in Portsmouth can provide moral support and a place to share experiences with other carers.  You can find details of local groups on our website .

Build up local sources of support:

“Take advice from the local social work team and build a relationship with care providers if they are also involved with the person you care for. Meet with neighbours and go and talk to them when you visit.”

Building up a network of local support such as local faith and social groups, meals on wheels, home help or domestic services and local homecare agencies can be additional sources of support that you can draw on to support your caring role.

You can also use the NHS website to find local adult social care services at the following link: Local Authority Adult Social Care

Have a back-up plan:

“You need back-ups and contingencies – provided through a good quality care company and/or other relatives/friend.”

Contact the Carers Service in the area where the person you care for lives to ask for advice or support. You can also use the Carers UK ‘My Back Up’ tool to help you to create an emergency plan.

Consider introducing technology to support your caring role:

“Incorporate as much technology as possible in advance – when the person needs to use it, it can be too late to introduce a new way of doing things.”

Carers UK has helpful information on how assistive technology can support your caring role.

Supporting someone to manage their affairs:

Caring for someone can also involve supporting them to make appointments, paying bills and other household admin or there may be a need to put a Lasting Power of Attorney in place.

Carers UK provides a helpful guide to supporting the person you care for: Different Ways of Managing Someone’s Affairs 

Set up a Lasting Power of Attorney early on, so that it is in place if and when needed:

“Make sure you have Lasting Power of Attorney as soon as possible and make sure that neighbours, friends, service providers all know that you have LPA and will contact you before making decisions.”

Support with Food and Essentials

This time of year can add extra financial stress for everyone

There are many charities and organisations who provide support for people who are struggling to pay for food and essentials. Don’t be afraid to ask for help if you need it, the volunteers who manage the food banks and pantries just want to help – there is no judgement.

• Food banks provide around 3 days food for your whole household if you can’t afford to buy food. Some food banks need a referral, and some can help you without being referred. here’s a list of ways to get one:
  • A support worker or school may be able to refer you.
  • Contact Advice Portsmouth (open Monday to Friday) – call: 023 9279 4340, text: 07789 550593 or email: advice.portsmouth@theyoutrust.org.uk
  • Call our cost of living helpline on: 023 9284 1047
  • If you are a city council tenant, contact your local housing office.
  • Drop in to Salvation Army Southsea at: 84 Albert Road, PO5 2SN, on Monday, Wednesday or Friday.
• Community Meals – Anyone who needs a hot meal can visit any of the services included in the Community Meals list. You don’t need a referral.
• Community pantries and larders give you the option to pay a small fee to join, then buy weekly groceries at a reduced price.
• Free School Meals – find out if you are eligible and apply.
• Special store offers – some stores are running campaigns to reduce food poverty, period poverty and food waste. Campaigns are usually advertised in store so look out for signs. Lidl offers a Too Good to Waste box for £1.50. A 5kg box filled with fruit and vegetables which are still good to use, but would have otherwise been thrown away. Ask in store or visit Less Waste – Reduce your impact on the world to find out about this, and loads of other great ways to save money and waste less.
• Household Support Fund  is money from the UK Government to help residents with essential daily costs like food and energy bills, between 1 October 2024 and 31 March 2025. If you are in severe financial hardship and can’t afford essentials, you can apply for an exceptional hardship payment. You’ll need to provide evidence of your income, spend and bank accounts, and tell them why you need help.

Get Involved: Make a Difference

Research into Community Resources to Manage Parkinsons and Promote Wellbeing

Researchers at the at the University of Southampton are looking for people and carers of people living with Parkinson’s or Arthritis. They need your help to design and test a tool to make it easier to find and access available community resources to manage the condition and promote wellbeing.

If you would like to participate in the research, they are looking forward to hearing from you!

If you are interested, please get in touch: c.j.fitton@soton.ac.uk

Get Involved: Make a Difference!

Building Carer Research Capacity: Unpaid Carers in Wessex Survey

What the study is all about:

A research team at Bournemouth University would like to invite you to help us to generate insights into the challenges of building capacity to undertake carer research.

This part of the study involves a Wessex wide mapping exercise collecting data from carers about their experiences to date of research, their ideas for improving participation in research and also pointing to particular areas which they feel would benefit from targeted research projects.

Carers who are aged 18 and are located within the Wessex region (Dorset, Solent and Winchester regions) to take part in this study.

What will happen if I take part?

• We’ll ask for feedback about any research you might have taken part in previously, your ideas for the most important areas that you, as a carer, would like to see researched and also see if you have any suggestions which might help carers to participate more frequently in research activities.
• We’ll also ask you to provide some information about yourself such as your age and gender for research purposes.

If you’re interested in finding out more and/or being involved then please visit this link https://app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/bournemouth/bcrc-carers or email the research team at Bournemouth University: apulman@bournemouth.ac.uk  who will be able to help with any queries you might have.

The Gift of Music this Christman

“Music has healing power. It has the ability to take people out of themselves for a few hours.”  – Elton John.

In the build up to Christmas music seems to be all around us, on the radio and television, in supermarkets and shopping centres. They even have Christmas tunes playing on the buses, helping to create a festive atmosphere all around.

Music, can lift our spirits, help us to relax, or bring back memories of times gone by,  it can also be an aid to your caring role.

Research has shown that listening to music that is personally meaningful has many psychological benefits, meaning anyone can benefit from a playlist. Personalised playlists can:

• reduce anxiety
• improve your mood
• make difficult tasks more manageable
• evoke memories that can help families and carers connect

Playlist for Life is an organisation which promotes the use of personalised playlist as way to improve the lives of those living with dementia, however a playlist and music can have benefits in any caring situation.

If you or your family are looking for gift ideas this Christmas why not think about putting together a playlist of music which means something to you and the person you care for.  More information on creating your own playlist can be found on the Playlist for Life Website or contact Portsmouth Carer Service for more information.

Opening Times Over Christmas

Make sure you know when we are available over the festive period…

• Monday 23^rd Dec – 9am to 5pm (normal)
• Tuesday 24^th Dec – 9am to 4pm
• Wednesday 25^th Dec – Closed
• Thursday 26^th Dec – Closed
• Friday 27^th Dec – Centre closed, available by phone/email only 9am to 4.30pm
• Monday 30^th Dec – Centre closed, available by phone/email only 9am to 5pm
• Tuesday 31^st Dec – Centre closed, available by phone/email only 9am to 4pm
• Wednesday 1^st Jan – Closed
• Thursday 2^nd Jan – 9am to 5pm (normal)
• Friday 3^rd Jan – 9am to 4.30pm (normal)

If you have an urgent care situation and need help from Adult Social Care, please call their helpdesk: 023 9268 0810.

Be Creative – Express Yourself!

It’s all about you, your life as a carer, your thoughts and feelings…

Throughout the coming year, we will be offering opportunities for carers and community groups to take part in creative writing, artistic and craft activities to form a body of work which will represent a creative picture of caring in Portsmouth.  We hope this will enable carers to express how they feel, explore their life experience, how they see the world and how they would like people to view them through involvement with creative activities.  We will use these creations to produce a book celebrating carers in Portsmouth, helping us to improve awareness and understanding of carers lives and enable both people who are caring and those who provide services to recognise carers and ensure they are supported in the best way possible.

How to get involved:

 Join one of our Carers Book Project Creative sessions with Laura to explore your creative side and express yourself:

• • Thursday 30^th January, 1pm to 4pm
  • Friday 21^st February, 9.30am to 12.30pm
• Creating something at home? Bring your creation along to one of our Creative Cuppa and Catch-up sessions and we will photograph it for inclusion in our book.
• Tell us about you, your life and how you see the world – this could be a poem, story or other creative writing. Send to us via email or bring it into the carers centre and we may include it in our book.

Please send your name and contact details with any submissions.

If you would like more information about the project or how you can get involved, please contact Laura on: 02392 851864 or email: carerscentre@portsmouthcc.gov.uk.

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