I Care, You Care sets out our aims for the next three years as we strive to become the first NHS Trust in the country to be awarded a three-star Triangle of Care accreditation by the Carers Trust.

Dominic Hardisty, Chief Operating Officer at Oxford Health, said “The I Care, You Care initiative is about improving on the good work already be done at the trust with families, friends and carers.

“Carers are unsung heroes who tirelessly go about providing valuable care and support for our patients and service users, and we want to make sure we are doing all we can for them.

“We are currently one of only 10 trusts to have a two-star accreditation, so we know we are doing well. But it’s about taking it to the next level and ensuring there is a consistent approach across all our services.”

At the moment no other trust has a three-star accreditation, meaning if we were to be successful we could become the first trust to receive this. However, Dominic added this wasn’t the motivator behind the new initiative.

He said: “We’ve spoken about this here at Oxford Health, and for us it’s not about being first, it’s about being best.

“We want to be an organisation that is held up as an example to others for the work we do with families, friends and carers.”

Over the past month the trust has met and spoken with families, friends and carers that come into contact with our services and made a short film to promote this new initiative.

“Hearing the stories of our carers and hearing about the challenges they face on a day-to-day basis is really powerful and it provides good inspiration for us all here at Oxford Health,” said Dominic.

“We all want the same thing for our patients; for them to get as well as they can, as quickly as they can. We know that by working together and collaborating around the care we are all providing, we will get the best possible results.”

The trust has launched a new I Care, You Care strategy that we want everyone to read that can be viewed by going to our new I Care, You Care webpages.