Carer Program
The MNCLHD Carer Program recognises carers as partners in care and supports them by providing information, connecting them with services, and improving communication with health professionals.
The program provides support to carers, including staff who balance employment with caring responsibilities. The program recognises the vital role carers play and helps connect them with local community support groups, services, and resources.
It also links carers with Carer Gateway and Carers NSW, services which provide assistance to help maintain their wellbeing and caring role.
People who provide care on a regular, ongoing basis for a family member or friend with:
- disability
- mental illness
- drug and/or alcohol dependency
- chronic condition
- or is frail and aged.
Care is provided without payment apart from a Carer Payment or Carer Allowance if eligible.
Carers can be parents, grandparents, spouses, partners, siblings, children, relatives, friends or neighbours.
A person is not a carer if they care for a person as a paid employee, a volunteer or as part of education or training.
Most carers will receive health services for themselves and for the person for whom they care. We listen to carers and recognise their unique knowledge and experience. Involving a carer as a partner in care improves outcomes for our patients.
Working Carers are MNCLHD staff and carers of our patients, who ‘juggle work and caring at home’.
Key links for working carers and their employers
- Carers leave.
- Flexibility in the workplace.
- NSW Carers NSW Carers (Recognition) Act 2010 and Carers Charter.
Key links for employers
Carers Australia’s benefits of Investing in Carers at Work details how workplace arrangements for carers can have significant benefits for employers, including staff retention, improved productivity and job satisfaction of employees, which in turn reduces recruitment and training costs.
The Carers + Employers Program
The Carers + Employers Program defines best practice standards for supporting staff with caring responsibilities – and includes the top 10 tips for employers.
Supporting carers is the responsibility of all levels of governments and the community as a whole. The NSW Government is committed to contributing to carers achieving quality of life for themselves and for the people they support. NSW Health Recognition and Support for Carers: Key Directions 2024-2028 guides NSW employees on how to recognise, support and partner with carers.
The NSW Health Carer Program provides information on:
Resources for carers
Carer Gateway provides services such as carer support planning, counselling, peer support, carer directed funding packages and emergency respite. Carers can contact Carer Gateway on 1800 422 737 or visit Carer Gateway.
The patient information and privacy pamphlet explains when health staff can share patient information and what the patient and their carer can do to help health staff share patient information.
The pamphlet includes links to additional sources of information about privacy and is available in Arabic, Chinese, Vietnamese and English.