As a carer, your role may include helping someone move about.
Action for Carers Surrey’s Moving and Handling service provides safe solutions for carers who carry out moving and handling as part of their role.
We offer information, advice, training and support to help carers prevent potential injury to themselves or the person they care for – adults and children.
Whether it’s some simple tips, or discussing more specialised equipment that will help, our team can advise. Like all our services, this support is free.
The advice was excellent and extremely useful – it was delivered with care, compassion and empathy.
Moving and handling tasks can include:
- Helping someone get into or out of a chair or bed
- Dressing
- Wheelchair transfers
- Car transfers
- Using a hoist or other equipment
Avoid the risk of damage to your own health
It’s important that you watch out for your own health. We are vulnerable to injury at any age. It’s not dependent on how capable or strong we think we are.
The effects of poor moving and handling can potentially build up over time and result in some of the following problems:
- Increased tiredness
- Reduction or loss of mobility
- Injury or strain to joints, ligaments, or your back
- Sharp or long-term pain or discomfort
- Potential damage to you or the person you are caring for
- Inability to work, be active or care
I was very grateful to the lovely lady that came out to show me how to move my mum. She was very helpful with lots of tips and advice.
How we can support you:
We can offer a lot of help and information that will help you in your caring role, and ensure you get the right support in how you move the person you support.
We can:
- Give training in groups, individually, and both online and face-to-face, in correct techniques and equipment use
- Visit your home or the place where you do your caring
- Provide tailor-made solutions to your individual caring situation
- Trial small handling aids and equipment and assess and refer to Surrey’s community equipment store for these items to be provided (loaned)
- We can also signpost you to places where specialist small aids or equipment can be purchased if it is not available via the community equipment store
- Give support at a pace which enables you to feel safe and confident
- Refer you to other support services, as well as signpost you to other sources of help
- Advocate on your behalf
- Liaise with other professionals
Your advisors were a lifeline – excellent advice and supply of useful equipment. We wouldn’t be managing without them.
Training sessions
Our Moving and Handling Advisors regularly hold online and face to face sessions on the physical aspects of caring for someone, and how to do this safely for you both.
It’s an ideal way to pick up some tips, learn about some simple kit and techniques that can make a big difference, as well as meet our team.
Find out more on our events pages
Get our support
To access the service, please complete our short registration form – then one of our Advisors will call you back.
Thank you for the sensitive and professional advice. The advisor was very helpful.
Further sources of support and information
Back care booklet
Charity Back Care have a great booklet all about taking care of your back, called We’ve Got Your Back. It’s free and you can read it here.
Get up and Go Guide
Charity SAGA with the Chartered Society of Physical Therapy have a useful Get Up and Go guide.
There are several different falls services around Surrey but it does depend on which part you live. If you would like to find out if there is a falls service in your area and would like to know how to contact them, please contact the Moving and Handling service for more information.
NHS Falls prevention advice
Surrey Heartlands have some really helpful videos on preventing and managing falls.
Surrey County Council
SCC’s Adult Social Care team have helpful information on its staying independent website pages.
SCC Staying Independent information
Keeping active – Active Surrey
Active Surrey has some great ideas for keeping active, with lots of suggestions of different ways to get and keep fit. There’s suggestions for all levels of abilities.
Carers UK
Carers UK have created a series of short video workouts and bitesize functional exercises that feature real carers alongside instructors.
The videos will help you to be active in a way that works for you, and at a time that’s convenient, while offering an inclusive and fun way to feel the physical and mental benefits. These video workouts cover a range of activities and are inclusive of all ages and fitness abilities.