John’s Campaign is a national campaign University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust has signed up to which recognises the importance of working with family carers as equal partners in the care and support of people with dementia. More recently, the Trust has decided to offer the opportunity to carers of people with complex needs including learning disabilities and or autism who may also benefit from the scheme, who may need more additional support both physically and emotionally.
This additional support can be very time‐consuming. Allowing support from their families/carers/care home staff to stay with the person to contribute to their physical and emotional needs will be helpful not only to the person who they will recognise but will give peace of mind to the carer and allow staff to be freed up to care for others.
The key focus behind John’s Campaign is a safe open visiting culture, supporting carer access to the hospital outside of normal visiting hours, to enable them to be with the person with dementia, complex needs including learning disabilities and/or autism when they may be stressed, anxious, upset or lonely.
Partnership in Care incorporating John's Campaign encourages carers to have a right to continue to care throughout a hospital stay - but it is not their duty.
It is completely understandable if an unpaid carer sees admission to hospital of the person they support as a chance to take some respite themselves There is no intention to trespass on the domain of nurses, merely to offer them a unique form of support in delivering compassionate and effective patient care. If the person has carers who are funded by health or adult social care, there may be an opportunity for them to continue with that care provision while the person is an inpatient.
For more information, you can read the patient information leaflet on Care Partners here.