Value and Impact of a Stakeholder-operationalised Carer Support Nurse Role and Feasibility of a Future Wider Implementation Study

Families and friends play a crucial role supporting people they care for as their unpaid carers. However, they are not always well prepared for this, and it can damage their own health and wellbeing. This can impact their ability to keep 'caring'. Carers often lack time to look after themselves, putting their own needs last. These needs tend to be hidden until crises. Carers need support to (1) look after their own health and wellbeing and (2) boost their skills and confidence to care. Healthcare policy says this should happen, but healthcare professionals can find this difficult alongside supporting the patient.

To address this, we have worked with carers, health and social care professionals, voluntary organisations and national leaders in carer support, to develop a new Carer Support Nurse role. This role is designed to help carers who have their own needs, or who need extra support for their caring role, that cannot be met by their usual healthcare team. The nurse will also work with other healthcare providers to raise their awareness of carer needs and how to support them.

The Carer Support Nurse is now in post. This study explores the role's value and impact by analysing data on (1) what the nurse does, and (2) the views of carers, patients, health and social care professionals, voluntary organisations, and the nurse themself. This will involve collecting data from (1) the nurse (through a weekly diary and monthly interviews), (2) carers who have had contact with the nurse (through a survey and interviews), (3) patients these carers support (through interviews), and (4) health and social care professionals and voluntary organisations (through interviews and focus groups). It will also develop recommendations for whether, and how, the role could be introduced more widely, and the design of a future multi-site study.