A DVD guide for carers

A DVD guide for carers
1-24 DVD's
(£8.51 Ex. VAT each)

Product Details

Almost every member of a family will find themselves caring for someone at home at some stage in their lives. The time for needing to care can come without warning and unless you have been involved professionally with caring and have some skills, there will be little opportunity to prepare.

Through either a lack of knowledge, skills, information or support many carers can become ill or injure themselves as a result of their caring activities. The number of carers becoming ill or injured is estimated by one major charity to be in excess of 620,000 carers per year.

There is an increasing requirement for the National Health Service (NHS) and Social Services to reduce their costs by returning patients and those in need of care back to the home environment and where possible into the care of their relatives.

The DVD ‘Do you care?’ has been produced with the assistance of consultants and health care professionals to ensure the most up to date techniques and safe practice are demonstrated. Click Testimonials to view independent reviews and comments about the DVD.

The contents of the DVD include 23 filmed demonstrations of proven methods and suggestions on how to undertake caring tasks which can be reasonably expected to be achieved by an able bodied person. It is divided into easy to navigate chapters within sections so that you can view demonstrations as often as you wish. Click DVD Contents to view the list of chapters.

The DVD, which can be at your home within a few days of ordering, offers the opportunity for those carers who do not qualify for high levels of Social Services support to empower themselves to protect their wellbeing, and more comfortably and efficiently, care for their family members.

Even if you have been caring for a long time, as can be seen from the testimonials from professional carers, there is always the opportunity to gain new or different skills and information from the DVD.

How to use the DVD

We suggest carers take the opportunity to watch the whole DVD (65+ minutes) on the first occasion. After that first viewing the carer can navigate easily to the DVD menu and thereafter select individual chapters to view, review or show others or the person for whom you are caring. The DVD can be viewed on a TV through a DVD player using, if appropriate, the arrow keys to navigate through the chapters. It can also be viewed on a computer equipped with the facility to play DVDs. An important aspect of successfully completing a task is for the carer to preview the chapter and gather all the necessary equipment prior to attempting the task.

The Accompanying Booklet

The DVD comes with a 28 page booklet which explains the objective of each chapter and lists the equipment needed for its completion. By quick reference to the appropriate chapter in the booklet the carer can be better prepared to undertake the intended task. The booklet explains how the carer can complete a simple ‘Risk Assessment’ to enable a better understanding of the risks to carers associated with the person for whom they are caring. There are also useful medicine chart templates in the booklet and free printable replacement charts are available by clicking Downloads on this web site. The booklet also contains a glossary of terms associated with caring with space to note useful contact details of care related people and organisations. A list of useful email addresses and contact telephone numbers is included in the booklet and a regularly updated list is available by clicking Links on this web site.

Why this DVD?

Extract from the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) report ‘High Impact Changes for health and social services’ March 2008 (p26)

“Services which challenge the exclusive focus on eligibility criteria by developing creative and flexible alternatives can reduce dependency. By establishing services which respond to low level needs and focus on a supportive and empowering approach the demand for high level, more expensive services can be reduced.”

This DVD, the only one of its kind to date, complies with government initiatives to:

Empower carers to develop their skills and confidence
Develop a foundation platform for a new adult care system such as Caring with Confidence
Deliver the priority of early intervention
Target carers at the low and moderate level of need
Encourage independence and home caring
Give carers more control and information
Satisfy the government requirement for improved ‘prevention services’
Address the needs of new carers
Demonstrate good hygiene, nutrition and hydration techniques

Summary of Benefits