Publish date: 23 February 2024
AWP is pleased to have maintained the Carer’s Trust Triangle of Care two star accreditation. This is the fourth year the Trust has maintained the accreditation, which is a testament to the hard work of carers and staff.
Our carers play an integral role in ensuring that their loved ones experience good mental health care and part of this is challenging us as an organisation to continually improve on the care that we provide their loved ones, as well as ensuring that their rights and needs remain a priority.
The Carers Trust Triangle of Care is an internal audit which relates to the therapeutic relationship between carers, service users and health professionals. It aims to promote safety and recovery, and to sustain mental wellbeing by including and supporting carers. It was created to improve engagement between the carer and health professionals, for the benefit of the service user in order to ensure that appropriate carer inclusion is embedded through the Service Users Carer Journey.
Patient and Carer Experience Manager, Anastasia Blaize has welcome the accreditation, saying: “We are proud that we have once again maintained our two star Triangle of Care accreditation. Working through this accreditation process helps us to really understand how we are working together with carers and service users, and most importantly where we need to improve.”
The Triangle of Care is based around six principles which health and care providers can use to include and support unpaid carer, staff and those receiving care. These are:
- Carers and the essential role they play are identified at first contact, or as soon as possible thereafter.
- Staff are ‘carer aware’ and trained in carer engagement strategies.
- Policy and practice protocols re: confidentiality and sharing information are in place.
- Defined post(s) responsible for carers are in place.
- A carer introduction to the service is available, with a relevant range of information across the care pathway.
- A range of carer support services is available.
The Carer’s Trust Triangle of Carer accreditation stars are awarded following a self-assessment process and are awarded as follows.
Two stars is the highest level that can be achieved by a mental health service provider.
- 1 Star – Mental Health Inpatient and crisis teams have been assessed.
- 2 Stars – Mental Health Inpatient, Crisis and Community services have been assessed.
- 3 Stars – Integrated providers i.e. all physical and mental health services have been assessed.
