Who is a carer?
A carer may be anyone, child or adult, who is caring for someone else, for example, another child/sibling, a parent, a relative, a partner or a neighbour.
Caring can be a profession, a volunteer role, or not paid/agency supported at all.
For our purposes, when we refer to āCarersā in this document, we mean those who are not paid in cash or kind, but may still receive government benefits such as āCarerās Allowanceā or āAttendance Allowanceā.
- Are not paid by employer or agency
- Are not volunteers from a voluntary agency
- Are not providing personal assistance for payment, either in cash or kind, apart from government assistance.
Why is it important to support carers?
There are a lot of them:
- roughly 10% of the UK population are carers.
Many of them are young (17 years or younger) and, as a result of caring for another:
- experience educational difficulties due to poor concentration, low attainment and absences.
- 16 and 17 year old carers are less likely to be in education, training or employment.
6.5 million: The number of carers in the UK
700,000: Estimated number of carers aged 17 or younger
Ā£57 billion per year: The Office for National Statistics estimate of the cost of replacing unpaid carers with paid carers in the UK.
They do it for free:
- Some adult carers give up paid employment to provide care, and so may have to borrow money or use savings to cover costs.
Caring affects physical and mental health:
- Carers, as a group, tend to focus on the health and well-being of the person for whom they are caring, at the expense of their own needs.
- Carers find it difficult to see a GP, as:
- many carers have to obtain respite care before visiting their surgery.
- carers can only leave the house at particular times of the day.
What could we do?
NHS England advises that we should identify, assess and support carersā needs, to:
- reduce avoidable demand/meet demand more appropriately, on services
- promote positive carer health and wellbeing
- avoid carer and family breakdown
- minimise unwarranted variations in carer support
How GP practices support carers
Care Quality Commission (CQC) expects GP surgeries to support carers holistically by:
- accurately identifying carers
- creating a culture in practice that is sensitive to the carers needs
- providing easy access to appointments
- acting as a source of information for carer support groups and agencies
Identifying a carer
GPs and their teams are usually the first place that carers have contact with the NHS and hence, are uniquely placed to recognise that someone is, or is about to become, a carer. Identification provides the opportunity to arrange support for them.
Trying to identify a carer can be tricky. Many may not see themselves as āa carerā, but rather as someoneās partner, relative or friend, doing their best to help someone they care about. So, if you think someone is acting as a carer, a good question to ask would be 'do you look after someone?' instead of 'are you a carer?ā
Any or all of the following situations/methods may be used to identify carers (not an exhaustive list).
- During consultations with clinicians.
- Through posters/notices in reception.
- New patient registration forms (eg. can ask ādo you look after someone?ā, ādoes someone look after you?ā).
- New patient Health Checks.
- Health Visitor/District Nurse local knowledge.
- Through notices on repeat prescriptions (i.e. someone often orders or collects repeat prescriptions for another individual)
- Home visits.
Seeking consent
- Once identified, carers must give consent for this to be recorded on their patient record.
- Consent of the patient cared for will be needed if clinical information is to be shared with the carer.
Assessing the carerās need
To ensure that the carer receives the support they need, social care agencies perform āneeds assessmentsā of their situations first. Carers can self refer for a needs assessment through Adult Social Care (ASC) in their borough, as this is usually quicker than a surgery referral. However, if the carer is incapable of self-referring, the surgery can make a referral on their behalf.
Below are agencies to which we signpost carers.
- Adult Social Care for:
- a carerās assessment and/or
- a needs assessment for the person being cared for
- meanās test for financial support
- Respite care.
- Carer support groups.
Providing support
The purpose of identifying carers is so that GP practices can help to ease the burden of caring by providing ways of supporting them.
We support carers by:
- providing information and local authority resources and contact points.
- providing health care checks and advice for the carer to enable them to maximise their own well-being and health.
- offering suitable appointment flexibility, priority and understanding (e.g. for young carers: think about how you can make appointments more accessible - after school, double appointments, etc.).
- recognising them as a carer, sharing information with them, and treating them as important partners in the delivery of care for the person for whom they are caring.
- respecting privacy and confidentiality by conducting conversations about caring, in private.
- empowering and supporting carers to use support networks/advocacy agencies that will have a positive impact on their health, care and wellbeing