Transcript for the Sonia Benitez and Nicci Wotton video in the annual report for 2019-20

[Title card] Hammersmith and Fulham Safeguarding Report 2020.

[Title card] How do you work with the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham?

Sonia: Carers network delivers core carers health services in Hammersmith and Fulham that include in-depth one-on-one carers assessments, [an] information, advice and guidance service including a dedicated phone line. Forums, support groups, drop-in sessions, training, information events and social activities. And we also have now a counseling project in partnership with goldsmith university.

Nicci: As a consultant nurse for safeguarding, I have a safeguarding team that deal with any sort of safeguarding issues that come into the hospital. So be it under safeguarding children, safeguarding maternity and also safeguarding adults. We also have a really close link in our learning disability team.

[Title card] What challenges did you face in the last year?

Sonia: The Covid pandemic has forced us to rethink the way we support carers and individuals in general, as it all had to be done remotely. We managed to adapt both of our service provisions so it could be done online or over the phone. But this has highlighted some critical issues such as digital exclusion amongst those who are not IT literate or just simply lack the resources to purchase technology.

Nicci: We had lots of domestic abuse cases that are happening behind closed doors and sadly quite a lot of people sort of only got help when it really became a really serious incident. I think that we had a lot of staff who were also dealing with obviously Covid and having to self-isolate. You definitely saw a lot of quite high intensity sort of cases, quite sort of emotional cases as well coming in.

[Title card] What is your proudest achievement?

Sonia: We have managed to engage individuals that have never had a chance to engage with activities before, because of the commitments such as work or studies, or simply because leaving their cared for loved one for a couple of hours was simply just not an option. So during lockdown we've also made over 400 welfare calls to carers with no email addresses or no resources to communicate online.

These calls were hugely appreciated by all and we worked very closely with the Hammersmith & Fulham Community Action Network volunteers, to ensure that basic needs at the time, such as organising shopping deliveries or prescriptions, were addressed as this was an issue at the beginning of the pandemic.

Nicci: What was really helpful actually was going virtual a lot more. So before we'd have a lot more difficulty in sort of being able to talk to GPs about cases. And sort of sometimes it's very difficult to coordinate social workers being able to get to the hospital for meetings. And I would say that I'm also really proud that we did keep our 7 day service. We all sort of really just helped each other deal with any sort of calls coming in.

[Title card] What areas of your work are most important?

Sonia: According to figures by Carer's UK which is a national carers organisation, pre-Covid there were around 7 million carers in the UK. That is 1 in 10 people. Now it is estimated that another 4.5 million adults may have become carers overnight. And one of the challenges that the pandemic has represented, is identifying these carers so they can access support in a preventative manner instead of just delivering crisis interventions.

Nicci: I think that there are a lot of people out there who are lonely, who are isolated. And I just think that in probably the first wave people were much more sort of community focused about making sure that people were being spoken to, that they had enough food. And I think even though there are still groups out there, then I think that what we need to do is that, that needs to be continued. And actually people in the future even when there's no Covid, that they continue to support their elderly neighbours or people that have got additional support and care needs.

I think with domestic abuse that's still really hidden. The community really needs to think about if they're hearing screams and shouts on a regular basis, then they pick up the phone and they tell the police because that might be the only way that person who's suffering domestic abuse, male or female, can actually get some support.

There's a lot of people out there who need the support but the services just don't know about it. As soon as they do they can start helping them.

[Title card] What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

Sonia: The most rewarding parts of my job are definitely empowering and supporting adults and carers to increase their confidence by addressing some of the most predominant impact that the caring role can have in their lives.

Nicci: When you're seeing adults who are coming out of abusive relationships and managing to get away, that's really rewarding. I think when you sort of seen somebody who has lived sort of a life for quite a while in a particular way, but actually, then changes can be made and they're much happier, that's really nice.

[Title card] What are your goals for the next year?

Sonia: Some of our primary focus is going to be in carer identification and provision of wellbeing services. We're going to try to do that by forming strong meaningful partnerships with our colleagues in the community and other grassroots organisations, so they can be our eyes and ears in identifying potential carers that might come their way so they know where to signpost them and where to refer them for support.

Nicci: We want to really keep the focus on making safeguarding personal. Because I think it's really improved the referrals that we've had so far. We did a lot of work about raising awareness with domestic abuse in our elderly patients and that will continue.

[Title card] What's your message for the residents of Hammersmith and Fulham?

Sonia: If you have a friend or a neighbour that is struggling with their mental health, with their everyday needs, just please encourage them to still get in touch with one of us. Both statutory organisations, local authority, voluntary organisations. We're still here for you, please do get in touch.

Voiceover: To get in touch please go to www.imperial.nhs.uk. For Carer's Network please go to www.carers-network.org.uk