Carers' survey 2011

someone ticking excellent on a survey In January 2011 York Carers Centre sent out 650 surveys to adult carers registered on its database. These were sent to carers who had registered in the past 2 years. In total 183 surveys were returned giving a 28% response rate. A separate survey was conducted for young carers and their families earlier in the year.

Overall, satisfaction levels with all aspects of the service provided by York Carers Centre were high. This is extremely encouraging and supported by the high response rate. Carers have also indicated that more localised advice services and the availability of a telephone helpline to support them with emotional and support issues would be valued.We also have a clear idea of the types of events and activities that carers are interested in which will help us shape and mould the service in future.

In general York Carers Centre needs to ensure that it continues to deliver its services to a high standard. It should also strive to maintain awareness and offer support for carers with specific projects such as the carers emergency card, so it continues to grow and be accessible for carers.The majority of carers heard about our service from a social worker or care support worker. This is a positive and demonstrates that the awareness raising and joint working that has been undertaken has had some impact.

A few highlights from the survey

Over half of all respondents told us that the reason for their initial contact was to find information about services. This is closely followed by carers wanting to register for the carers emergency card.
Over half of respondents (58%) told us that they contacted the centre by telephone.
A fifth of carers had received a home visit, with relatively low numbers making contact by visiting the office, email and the website.
Overall satisfaction with the telephone service is extremely high with 95% of respondents saying that the calls were answered quickly; 96% thought the person who dealt with their enquiry was polite and understanding; 94% said they were able to speak to someone at a convenient time to them and that the opening hours were convenient.
Almost a quarter of respondents said they had access to the internet. Of those 91% felt the website was easy to use and that they were able to find what they were looking for.
Overall feedback with regard to home visits was very good in all areas, with 95% agreeing that their query was dealt with properly; the worker was professional; helpful; understanding and spent the right amount of time with the carer.
Feedback about the newsletter was positive with 88% agreeing that the information is useful and relevant to them. Similarly 87% thought that it was sent out often enough. 90% said that it is clear and easy to understand and 86% agreed that it helps them to feel less isolated as a carer.

Young carers survey

Our young carers service also did a survey to find out what young carers and their families thought about the support they were offered.

Attachment	Date	Size
York Carers Centre survey 2011 Survey sent to 650 carers registered with the Centre	12/07/11 1:15 pm	281.54 KB
Young carer survey	12/07/11 1:15 pm	423.71 KB