A dedicated Carers Café is to launch at The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital

News from our partners Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital (RJAH) NHS Foundation Trust

The first Carers Café will be held at RJAH on Tuesday 5 September 2017; thereafter, the sessions will be held every second Tuesday of the month.

The café will give carers an opportunity to meet other carers in an informal environment, over a cup of tea or coffee.

Carers who attend the monthly café can also find out about resources available to them, and identify ways they can be supported within the community.

Just some of the information carers will have access to at the café sessions include discharge procedures, carer support after going home, and carer support and social groups within the community.

From left: Alison Harper, Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS) Patient Experience Manager at RJAH, and Margarete Davies, Shropshire Council’s carer project co-ordinator.

Margarete Davies, Shropshire Council’s carer project co-ordinator, will be on hand at the café every month to provide carers with the information and support they need to assist them in their day-to-day role as an unpaid carer.

Margarete said:

“The idea of the café is to offer carers a relaxed place where they can find out what support is available to them but also just as importantly, offer them a place to go where they can meet other people in a similar situation to them. The social aspect is just as important.

“Many people do not recognise themselves as informal carers, and see this simply as part of being a family member, spouse, partner, friend or neighbour.

“We want to send a message out that helping to look after someone who could not manage otherwise, is caring, and by identifying themselves as an informal carer earlier, gives people the opportunity to find out about the support available to them. Many informal carers are not aware of what sort of help is there for them and what a huge difference it may make to their lives.”

Bev Tabernacle, Director of Nursing at RJAH, said:

“The Carers Café ties into the aims of our patient panel at RJAH and our new Patient Experience Strategy for 2017-2020, where staff, patients, families, carers can all work together to ensure that our patients who are supported by carers have the best possible experience whilst using our services.”

The café will run between 10am and 4pm every second Tuesday of the month, following the first session on 5 September.

It will be held at the main entrance to the hospital, opposite The League of Friends café.

For further details about the café, contact Margarete by telephoning: 01743 255776 or emailing: margarete.davies@shropshire.gov.uk. 

Further information 

Located in Oswestry on the Shropshire and North Wales border, The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (RJAH) serves the local population in Shropshire, North and Mid Wales, Cheshire and the West Midlands, with a patient catchment extending nationally.

A specialist orthopaedic hospital with a world-wide reputation for innovation and research, the Trust provides elective orthopaedic surgery and musculo-skeletal medical services, as well as particular areas of expertise including spinal injuries, bone tumour and disorders affecting muscular development.