Livewell Southwest is proud to be the first Adult Social Care provider to obtain the Carers Trust Triangle of Care Star 3 accreditation, marking a major milestone for involvement of unpaid carers throughout a person’s health and social care journey.
This achievement reflects Livewell’s dedication to actively involving and supporting carers, who are often the people who knows the service user best of all.
The Triangle of Care (often referred to as ToC) is a national quality improvement scheme, run by Carers Trust, that promotes safety, recovery and wellbeing by including and supporting unpaid carers in healthcare settings – with a key focus on ensuring everyone involved in a person’s care is listened to, respected and included to shape best outcomes for the service user.
Star 3 Integrated Adult Social Care is the newest version of accreditation within the Triangle of Care scheme and has seen over a year’s worth of collaboration between Livewell, unpaid carers, Carers Trust, and Improving Lives Plymouth who provide the Caring for Carers service commissioned by Plymouth City Council. The new Star 3 nationally recognised guidance will be available to participating Integrated Adult Social Care services across the UK once launched by Carers Trust later this year.
Livewell was invited by Carers Trust to participate in the Star 3 pilot programme to implement Triangle of Care into Adult Social Care (ASC) services, following the successful achievement of both Star 1 and Star 2 – delivering ToC in mental health inpatient units and Community Mental Health Services.
Three services were chosen to be part of the pilot. These services included the Care Home Team, the Adult Social Care Learning Disabilities and Mental Health Teams.
The accredited Star 3 Integrated Adult Social Care status was successfully achieved by Livewell after staff completed self-assessments and made improvements and changes to how they work alongside carers.
Changes have included:
- Producing specific information for carers
- Increased identification of carers (including young carers) at first contact and recording them in systems
- Ensuring carers are encouraged to register with Improving Lives Plymouth (Caring for Carers) and have a carers assessment where appropriate
- Ensuring staff are carer-aware and have attended new carers awareness training, which has been co-produced and co-delivered with carers.
This was supported by activities including conversations with carers about the criteria in the self-assessments and what they would like to see happen when in contact with services.
Being part of the pilot also meant providing feedback to Carers Trust about the new Adult Social Care self-assessment and associated guidance to help shape the final Integrated Social Care ToC guidance.
Mary Patel, Triangle of Care Programme Lead, Carers Trust said: “We are delighted to award Livewell Southwest the first Triangle of Care Star 3 – Integrated Adult Social Care (ASC) accreditation. This marks a real step forward for unpaid carers and social care nationally. We are grateful to Livewell Southwest for testing the draft guidance in such a robust way. This has established a clear, evidence‑based model for bringing carers into the heart of practice across an integrated health and social care organisation. The pilot has resulted in measurable improvements in carer visibility, early involvement, data quality and staff practice. It also led to the identification of further improvement priorities.
The Service User Experience Team led by Clare Stirling who co-ordinates ToC across Livewell managed the accreditation process alongside Livewell’s Principal Social Worker, Becky Filmore. It was also supported by Improving Lives Plymouth and the Caring for Carers service.”
Rebecca Filmore, Principal Social Worker, Livewell Southwest said: “We are incredibly proud to have achieved Star 3 which shows our continued commitment to keep carers at the heart of what we do each and every day. Without the dedication from services, system partners, service users, families and carers, reaching this accreditation would not have been possible and we would like to thank all who have helped to support us in the process of becoming the first provider in the UK to deliver the Triangle of Care in Adult Social Care.”
Kate Lattimore, Commissioning Team, Plymouth City Council said: “This is a great achievement led by Livewell Southwest with support from our commissioned service, Caring for Carers. It demonstrates commitment by partners in recognising the incredible contribution that unpaid carers provide in supporting a family member or friend with care needs, and the importance of including carers as ‘expert partners’ in discussions and planning of that care, to achieve better outcomes for all.”
Viktor Keaty-Korycan, Caring for Carers team, Improving Lives Plymouth said: “This accreditation is a really important step in recognising unpaid carers as equal partners in care. We’re proud to have worked alongside Livewell Southwest, as well as the carers themselves, to help embed the Triangle of Care into Adult Social Care practice. It shows what is possible when the voices of carers are listened to, respected, and built into our everyday systems.”
