Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust (NSFT) has been awarded a second gold star in recognition of its commitment to ensuring carers are fully supported and involved in decisions about care.

The Carers Trust has presented NSFT with the star for successfully achieving the second stage of the Triangle of Care.

NSFT was awarded the star following a lengthy evaluation process, during which community services completed a self-assessment explaining the steps they take to involve carers. A detailed report was also submitted to the Carers Trust and a presentation took place before the application was peer evaluated and a final decision was made.

It comes after the trust was awarded its first gold star, for the way it involves carers in the care delivered by inpatient services and its crisis resolution and home treatment (CRHT) team, in 2015.

Sharon Picken, NSFT's participation lead for Norfolk, said: 'This is a fantastic achievement and really shows the progress, enthusiasm and support from our staff and teams across the trust.

'Since our trust became a member of the Triangle of Care scheme, we have been driving through culture changes to highlight the benefits of close working between clinicians, service users and carers.

'Achieving our second gold star underlines our commitment to ensuring all services and teams across the trust can support, listen to and engage with carers to make sure that the care we provide is joined up, person-centred and of the highest quality.'

The Triangle of Care was launched in 2010 as a therapeutic alliance between carers, service users and staff. NSFT became a member of the scheme in 2014, with the aim of supporting and promoting recovery in mental health by ensuring that carers are fully involved throughout the recovery journey and able to access support, and that services value the vital role they play.

Marcus Hayward, head of recovery and participation, said: 'Our carer leads have been working really hard to get carer involvement on the map and I'd like to congratulate them for achieving this second gold star. There is still some way to go to ensure the carer experience consistently aligns with the standards, but this recognition shows that we are on the right path to improve Triangle of Care in practice.

'We will continue to build on these strong foundations in the future as we drive through further improvements for our service users and their carers.'

For more information about the Triangle of Care, visit www.carers.org/news/mental-health-and-triangle-care