New Chair for Carers Trust Cambridgeshire
With the impending retirement of their current Chair, Linda Collumbell, Carers Trust Cambridgeshire, Peterborough & Norfolk is delighted to announce the recruitment of a new
Chair.
Stuart Evans is a Cambridge-based Entrepreneur, Board Member and Trustee, and will become Chair of Trustees in September 2017. Until recently, he was Chair of Trustees at Arthur Rank Hospice Charity, which operates and raises funds for the adult hospice in Cambridgeshire. Over the last decade, he helped build a terrific management team and accomplished a strategic transformation in a complex and changing environment. In 2015,
the charity won a significant grant from the NHS for service delivery and in late 2016 it opened a new charitably-funded £12M hospice.
Stuart was previously a Board Member at the East of England Development Agency, which supported Economic Development in Cambridgeshire, Peterborough, Norfolk and elsewhere. He has been CEO at several start-ups in Cambridge & London, and now has a
portfolio of charitable and commercial activities. He was educated at Cambridge University and Harvard Business School, and spent his early career at IBM & McKinsey. He and his wife Brenda adopted three children as babies, and have deep experience of caring for family members.
Stuart said, “Carers Trust Cambridgeshire, Peterborough & Norfolk does tremendously important work in supporting family carers and those they care for. So I am looking forward to helping the Charity move to the next stage. My first priority will be to help recruit a new CEO to replace Helen Brown, who is retiring after 12 years. This is a great opportunity for someone who wants to lead an organisation in health and social care that is really going places – they should check out https://lnkd.in/dawj2zu.”
Dr Helen Brown, CEO of Carers Trust Cambridgeshire, Peterborough & Norfolk said; “We are thrilled to have Stuart on the Board and look forward to his Chairmanship. His work and legacy with Arthur Rank was incredible and I know he will be a huge asset to our organisation.
“I would also like to thank Linda Collumbell, who will retire from the board and to say how much I and the rest of the staff will miss her. Linda has dedicated a lifetime to social care and carers in particular and in recognition of this, Linda was awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Carers at the Pride in Our Carers 2017 and knows she is leaving us in good hands with Stuart‘s appointment.”
Linda and Stuart look forward to addressing the ‘Family Carers Day‘ event preceding Carers Trust Cambridgeshire, Peterborough &Norfolk’s AGM on Thursday 21 September 2017 at The Corn Exchange in St Ives. It will also be Dr Brown’s last AGM.
The ‘Family Carers Day‘ event is free and includes refreshments, lunch, activities and workshops designed to improve wellbeing and to give unpaid family carers a bit of a well-deserved treat! Registration is at 10am. At 3pm, there will be a reception to say farewell to Linda, followed by the AGM at 4pm
If you are a carer and would like to know more about our Family Carers Day, please contact Annette Reader on 01480 499090 or email events@carerstrustcambridgeshire.org. Booking is essential as places are limited.
Carers Trust Cambridgeshire is a local Charity that supports unpaid, family carers of all ages and cares for children and adults with care needs.
Affiliated to Carers Trust, a unique network of 124 independent carers’ centres, 73 Crossroads Care schemes and 107 Young Carer’s services. Together we work as one organisation united by a shared vision for carers – to make sure that information, advice and practical support are available to all carers across the UK.
Nationally, there are around 7 million adult carers in the UK. In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough there are over 78,000 carers and rising.
3 out of every 5 of us will have a caring role at some point during our life.
Every day in the UK, another 6,000 people take on a caring role. In Cambridgeshire and Peterborough that would equate to about 70 every day.
The economic value of the contribution made by family carers in the UK is £132bn per year at considerable personal and emotional cost to themselves
13,000 of the UK’s young carers care for over 50 hours a week.
Following a survey in 2010, the BBC estimated that there are 700,000 young carers in the UK. There are at least 4000 young carers in our county.
Young adult carers aged between 16 and 18 years are twice as likely to be not in education, employment, or training (NEET). We support Young Adult Carers through a dedicated project, STRIVE.
In 2016-17 over 11,000 carers received a service from us and we provided nearly 118,000 hours of regulated care supporting 1,209 people with care needs. 98% said that our care helped them to maintain their quality of life.
Our organisation respects the individuality of all carers and people with care needs and seeks to promote their choice, independence, dignity and safety. We aim to provide a flexible and adaptable service with double value – both in meeting the needs of individual carers and those they care for.
Carers may need support to gain an education, to remain in employment, or because of their caring role for an adult or a child with a disability.
Our home care services ensure that the person being cared-for can remain in their home for longer, and helps avoid the need for admission to hospital or other caring institutions, relieving the pressure on hospital beds.
Our children’s service supports children with special needs to take part in activities, have choices and to enjoy and achieve. Groups for children with disabilities include the Sunshine Club for children with autistic spectrum conditions in Cambridge. Activities are funded by BBC Children in Need.
Carers Trust Cambridgeshire is currently financed through grants, purchased social care contracts, privately purchased care and charitable donations.
£5.3bn has been wiped from the economy in lost earnings due to people who’ve dropped out of the workforce to take on caring responsibilities, as one in five carers gives up employment to care.
Over 225,000 carers providing at least 50 hours of care per week are “not in good health” themselves and more than half are over the age of 55.
There are currently 800,000 people living in the UK with dementia.
Two thirds of people with dementia live at home and most are supported by unpaid carers.
7 out of 10 (75%) carers were not prepared for all aspects of caring.
2 out of 5 (42%) carers had had a breakdown in a relationship with a family member.
8 out of 10 (81%) carers were not aware of the support available because of the time it took them to identify themselves as carers.