Carers Monitoring Form

We have put together a new resource – a Carers Monitoring Form – with the help of our Stronger Together families

What is a Carers Monitoring Form?

The purpose of this form is to capture information which can be used by commissioners in their quality monitoring of hospital services.

This form was developed jointly by commissioners and families in recognition of the vital role families have in observing the care and treatment their family members receive while in hospital.

The purpose of the form is to make it easier for families to clearly record their observations and feed these back to commissioners – what’s going well and what’s not, including any immediate risks, concerns or issues that need to be addressed.

The forms may help to structure the discussions you have with commissioners about hospital services.

They will also provide additional insight, information and evidence for commissioners which can be used in their quality monitoring of hospital services.  This will help to ensure that ongoing care is of a good quality, meets individual needs and is provided by staff who understand how best to support your family member.

The form is not intended to be shared directly with hospital services.  We recognise that families often develop a direct relationship with staff at hospitals and may be concerned that any criticisms of care and / or treatment may have a negative impact on this relationship.  As a result this form is intended to be shared with commissioners only.

How to use the form

The form provides you with a list of topics and questions to think about when visiting, attending meetings or talking with your family member and the teams supporting them.  There is space to record how things are going under each heading. Alternatively, you can use this form as a tool before attending CPA (Care Programme Approach) meetings or Care (Education) and Treatment Reviews. C(E)TRs.

Have a look at the PROMPT SHEET example comments and questions and tailor them to your own needs. Use this information as a prompt during your conversations either in person, at reviews or during telephone discussions. Write down questions to ask, summarise things that are going well and not so well and record one off events. Doing this will help you lead discussions as well as serving as a permanent record. Keep the current form to hand and use a fresh form on a regular basis to develop a comprehensive chronicle over time.

Further information 

While your family member is in hospital, they will receive regular independent Care Education and Treatment Reviews (C(E)TRs) to make sure they are receiving appropriate care. If you would like to know more about these reviews please see the CTR Survival Guide produced by families for families, and a support organisation for families and carers called Bringing us together – Survival Guide to CTRs

https://bringingustogether.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CTR-Survival-Guide-Aug-2017-1.pdf

Debs Aspland

Mum to three great kids, each with a different SEN.
Transplanted from the NW to the SE.
Co-founder and Director of Bringing Us Together