Although, thanks to the Care Act, carers are now higher up the national agenda, it’s still good, local ideas that have the biggest impact on their lives. This was acknowledged by the theme of this year’s Carers Week – building carer-friendly communities – and in Liverpool the event was marked by launching My Time, a hyper-local initiative that aims to give a break to some of the city’s 50,000 carers.
My Time is spearheaded by the Local Solutions-run Liverpool Carers Centre. The scheme began to take shape in 2009 when the carers centre staff wondered if local hotels would consider “donating” an overnight stay and breakfast to carers so they could get a brief respite from their caring role.
Hazel Brown, Local Solutions’ head of carers services explains: “We decided to take a chance and wrote to some hotels in the city. When the letter arrived at Malmaison it was opened by someone who was caring for her mum. It hit home with her straight away about juggling work, a young family and her caring role, so she got the letter to the right person and we were able to arrange a meeting. The hotel couldn’t have been more helpful, and they agreed to initially trial the idea of offering a complimentary overnight stay and breakfast for a carer plus a guest. The uptake from carers was amazing and we very quickly had a waiting list.”
Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and the Liverpool Hoteliers Association backed the initiative and now nine hotels and apartments are on the My Time list offering breaks to carers who have had a needs assessment and have a support plan.
Barbara McGinn was one of the first carers to take advantage of an overnight stay. “I wondered what was going to happen,” she says. “Would people be saying ’you’re the one going for an overnight freebie’?
“But we were checked in like any other paying guest. I opened the door to an ultra-modern room and there was a bath. I love baths, but I live in a home where we can only have a walk-in shower. For a few hours I was able to just think about me. I didn’t have to worry about where the next meal or medication was coming from. I went home and felt like myself again. Each and every little thing was amazing.”
It also became apparent that having a break didn’t necessarily mean an overnight stay. As offers came in for free tickets from the Philharmonic Hall as well as vouchers from local hairdressers, Brown and her team realised a break could also mean just a few hours out of the house.
She continues: “We wanted to develop the scheme and the next step was to look at branding. Local Solutions’ trustees backed us and we started working with Agent Marketing making sure that we involved the carers. Although the agency presented us with four names for the scheme it was the carers who came up with My Time. We really love it because it can mean so many things to so many people.”
The branding was officially launched on 10 June at the Crowne Plaza and now My Time is part of Liverpool’s trailblazing tradition of looking after its citizens: the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children was the forerunner to the NSPCC; the city had Europe’s first municipal housing in 1869; 1842 saw the world’s first public wash-houses open in Liverpool, and the city ran the county’s first anti-tuberculosis campaign in 1901.
Brown sums up the venture: “My Time is a very simple concept: to support carers through the kind generosity of business and organisations. We want to expand and include opportunities such as sport, leisure and meals; the options are unlimited. We don’t know where this will go but I want it to be known as another first for Liverpool.”
To find out more about My Time email mytime@localsolutions.org.uk or follow on Twitter - @MyTime_LS
Content on this page is produced and controlled by Liverpool city council, sponsor of the adult social care hub
