These sessions are being hosted on the Near Me platform. Please use the button below to join:
SCfPE
Informal Carers ECHO
Facilitator to be Organised
The facilitator for this programme is still to be confirmed.
Facilitator to be Organised
The facilitator for this programme is still to be confirmed.
Why are we doing it?
In 2022 as part of the In Advance European funded programme, we ran a project called Living Well with a team of consultants, nurses, physiotherapists and other professionals to deliver an education programme for older people who were receiving palliative care at home for complex conditions.
The ECHO team got involved in this project because the format was similar to ECHO where there was a short education slot in each session, delivered by a health professional or other specialist and then patients could ask questions about their own health, talk about complex situations and gain peer support within an informal environment. The format was very similar to ECHO and everyone was a teacher and everyone was a learner.
As our lead consultant has said many times to social care staff, "doctors and nurses are experts in treating people, but we're not experts in what it's like to be awake and alone at two in the morning supporting someone." This sentiment also applies to unpaid and informal carers.
“ I really appreciated that this doctor who was obviously an expert treated me as an equal and not talked down to.”
- Patient taking part in the Living Well programme
Examples of topics that were covered during this programme included:
- Breathlessness and how to manage it at home.
- What is heart failure?
- Power of Attorney
- Financial issues
- Simple but effective arm chair exercises
An interesting thing we learned was that the group all agreed that it would have been good for something to have been delivered for their families and carers. Much later, we spoke to the manager of the day care centre where we are going to trial this and they agreed that there is a need for carers to have easy access to supports which are right for them and take account of their caring commitments too.
With the knowledge we have from delivering ECHO and the learning we gained in working with patients and carers through Living Well, we will be working with a Highland day centre to pilot ECHO for Informal Carers.
We also collaborate with Scottish Care in lots of activities including ECHO. Scottish Care have carried out a fantastic piece of work in providing 'care technologists' to support families and patients to use technology to improve symptom management at home. We will also use their learning to make sure we have all the bases covered to support carers to take part in ECHO while using Near Me groups platform to make taking part as easy as possible.
We are excited about this but more importantly, we are ready to work hard to reach known carers and the hidden people, shouldering huge responsibility for a loved one or friend.
How are we going to do it?
Step 1
First of all we plan to speak to a small group of informal carers who meet and consult with the Highland day care centre identified for this pilot. Groups like this are often called 'lived experience' groups and are an essential part of modern planning in healthcare. They play an equal role to professionals in discussions about healthcare.
The discussion will be about understanding what ECHO is, how it could be used and imagining the types of topics informal carers might need to know about. We will also ask the group what might stop this plan from working so that we can problem solve any concerns beforehand to give it the best chance of success.
Step 2
The next step is to have a meeting with a bigger group of informal carers to test out the ideas and explain what ECHO is. We will also find out what sorts of things would help people take part in ECHO, such as the best times of the day, how often and confidence to use computers, phones and tablets as well as access.
Once we have all the opinions about the programme we will start asking people to deliver sessions on the subjects asked for and identified as the most important and we will support carers to prepare their most complex questions to ensure we give the best advice to each other.
Step 3
We will evaluate the programme and repeat the things that worked and change things that didn't work so well for the group.
The programme will be available after we have completed steps 1 & 2 of our plan.
Register to attend
If you have difficulties using this form, or you would like more information about the topics before you register, please contact us directly at info@echo.scot.
There is no charge for ECHOs - they are free to attend.