Carers Week: K's story

My mother-in-law had a major stroke in 2016 and became completely dependent on others for her care. Before that she had been independent, active and an energetic member of her local and faith community. I remember life that summer juggling our normal childcare and school run activities with trips down the motorway to the hospital, giving updates to concerned family and friends and making dozens of calls to different local authority agencies to get ongoing support arranged.

The team in the stroke unit were incredibly dedicated and she received excellent care. Getting her home was harder and we were coordinating with a range of different agencies to arrange ongoing rehabilitation. It was very frustrating.

My line manager and team were an amazing source of support during this time. There were occasions I had to arrange time off at extremely short notice and the flexibility was very helpful.

I am pleased that the Leeds Beckett Carers Network is starting up again. Four years ago, it was useful to know that the Network was there for wider support and through going to some of the meetings, I found out about Carer’s UK and was able to get information on different people we could contact to get more help. During the pandemic, while so many families like mine are less able to visit their loved ones, I can see that this could be invaluable giving colleagues support and information on how to access other help for their loved ones.

If you are a carer and would like support or a 1-2-1 conversation please visit Carers Leeds at https://www.carersleeds.org.uk/ for more information.

Or to find out more about support at Leeds Beckett please contact Equality@leedsbeckett.ac.uk or Craig Downing our E&I Manager directly at C.M.Downing@leedsbeckett.ac.uk