Over 3 million carers in the UK have wanted to walk away

The 'Duty to Care' campaign by The Princess Royal Trust for Carers has revealed that over half of carers (51%) across the UK have felt like walking away from their caring responsibilities, a new report launched today has revealed. With six million carers in the UK, this could equate to just over 3 million people walking away, which would mean that the NHS would not be able to provide the care needed to keep people living independently in their homes.

With three quarters of carers caring for a partner, parent or child with a disability, nearly half said they felt they never had a choice to take up the caring role. Many carers recognise that there has been a change in their relationship and experience feelings ranging from anger to sadness about the loss of the previous relationship they had with the person they now care for.

Caring is rarely a short term commitment. Over a third of those asked said they had been caring for ten years or more. This long term commitment takes its toll on carers themselves. Research shows that carers experience stress, frustration, depression and anger. Sadly many said they felt completely overwhelmed and taken for granted.

One carer told us, "My Husband relies on me like I am his mum".

Anyone can become a carer and every carer has different needs. When asked what help carers would like, just a quarter said they wanted financial help. More importantly, over three quarters said they wanted time out, practical support, advice, information and someone to talk to.

Shan Nicholas, Chief Executive of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers said, “These results are extremely worrying. Unpaid family carers in this country are key partners in delivery of primary care, however many carers tell me that no-one pays attention to their opinion. We are working with our Network of Carers’ Centres to highlight the crucial role carers fulfil to the people who commission local support services. We are trying to ensure that carer support is seen as a high priority and funded appropriately. We have an ageing population which will increase the strain on the NHS and social services and more people will become carers. Getting the right support services in place for them is essential!”

As part of the Duty to Care campaign, we will be holding a number of hosted online chats in our chat room to discuss issues raised in this campaign and others carers may have.

Survey Results

Over 400 carers were interviewed from a general population sample of 5000 by NEMS market research from mid August until late September 2006. In addition 27 carers from our Network of Carers’ Centres were interviewed mid September 2006.

• 71% of carers said they were stressed
• 83% of carers are frustrated by their caring role
• 56% of carers feel depressed
• 58% of carers are angry
• 52% of carers are feeling overwhelmed
• 53% of cares feel that they are taken for granted
• 42% of carers felt they never had a choice in deciding to care
• 32% of carers feel sad about the loss of the previous relationship they had with the person they now care for
• 31% of carers had been caring for 10 years or more
• 32% of carers are caring for a parent
• 28% of carers are caring for husband/wife/partner
• 14% of carers are caring for a child with a disability or illness
• 64% of carers turned to family and friends for help
• 24% of carers agreed that the one thing that could make things better was more financial benefits