Carers’ Strategy 2008-18, refreshed 2010
The Carers’ Strategy published in 2008 has five objectives for carers to be achieved by 2018:
- Recognised and supported as an expert care partner
- Enjoying a life outside caring
- Not financially disadvantaged
- Mentally and physically well; treated with dignity
- Children will be thriving, protected from inappropriate caring roles.
The Coalition Government refreshed this strategy retaining these aims with a priority area of supporting carers to remain healthy. 
A summary of this refreshed Carers’ Strategy is here (183 KB). In brief, key health issues were:
- An additional £400m for the NHS to improve support for carers
- Additional resources to train GPs and other health professionals on carer awareness
- Skills for Care & Skills for Health will publish a learning and training framework on supporting carers
- Expansion of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme for carers.
The guide produced by Skills for Care and Skills for Health is available here:
Carers’ Strategy Demonstrator Sites
25 areas were chosen to develop innovative services for carers focussing on three areas: breaks; health checks; and better NHS support. Each site had a pilot lasting 18 months up to March 2011. A summary of the report evaluating these pilots is available here. (264 KB)
General findings & recommendations
- Pilots advised that involving carers in the design, delivery and evaluation of services made these more effective
- Local partnerships should consider resourcing local voluntary sector organisations to deliver well-being checks for carers.
- Every GP practice should be encouraged to identify a lead worker for carer support, who can assist in carer identification.
- All staff who interact with carers, in hospitals, GP practices, local authorities and in the voluntary sector should be trained to consider how caring responsibilities can impact on a carer’s health.
Breaks pilots – findings & recommendations
- 39% of carers surveyed in the pilots had not previously taken a break from their caring role at all, and a further 41% had only ever taken a break of a few hours, and not overnight.
- The most common ways carers advised how they became aware of the breaks’ service was through a Carers’ Centre (32%) and then social services (20%).
- Over four months, 39% of carers who had not received a break showed a significant deterioration in their well-being, compared to 29% who had received a one-off break and 24% who had received on-going support.
- Torbay’s pilot used the GHQ-12 (General Health Questionnaire) before and after providing the service to carers and reported a highly significant reduction in distress amongst carers during the time they received the service
Health Check pilots – findings & Recommendations
- Four months after a health check, 28% of carers surveyed felt the way they looked after their own health had improved; 23% were taking more regular exercise.
- 80 of 117 carers (68%) who had received a health check in Camden scored improved well-being on the WHO-5 index, while a comparator group of 101 carers showed no significant improvement over the same time period.
- Devon reported that 66% of the health and wellbeing checks (1,644/2,510) led to further NHS referrals including GP and practice nurse appointments, phlebotomy, stop smoking service, a screening programme, health trainers, community nursing, check-ups for dentistry, opticians, and audiology
NHS Support Sites
- Pilots offering hospital based carer support reached large numbers of carers, more than those attempting to identify carers in primary care settings
- Bolton’s pilot led by the NHS Foundation Trust developed a carer awareness training course which is now delivered as part of their mandatory induction for all new staff
- In Halton and St Helens, a Carers’ Centre staff member was based in the hospital with an NHS e-mail address and this improved co-ordination and responsiveness to the carers’ needs
