Health and Wellbeing

One of the four main goals of the Government White Paper "Our health, Our care, Our Say" is "better prevention services with earlier intervention".

With an ageing population and more people living with long term conditions, the National Health Service cannot remain principally a treatment service. Health services need to focus more on keeping people well.

Another goal of the White Paper is "to do more on tackling inequalities and improving access to community services".

Carers are often unrecognised, can be excluded from access to services or treatment because of their caring role, and face significant health deficits as a result of caring.

Research on carers health (92 KB) shows that high numbers of carers suffer health effects through caring. Health professionals who identify carers open up the opportunity of addressing these issues in a practical way. For instance – a carer with back problems as a result of lifting the person they care for in and out of bed can be helped by provision of a hoist or other equipment. A carer suffering from stress or depression could benefit considerably from a break from caring.

The route to many support services is through identification and referral to other agencies – to Social Services for a carers’ assessment, or to the local Carers’ Centre for information and support.

Carers are also partners in the provision of care to the person they care for. With appropriate training and support, carers can play a key role in maintaining the health of the person they care for. For instance, training the carers of stroke survivors can reduce subsequent readmissions to hospital for the patient. Resources used to equip carers with the skills, knowledge and support to undertake the role with confidence could pay dividends in the long term.

Putting People First Without Putting Carers Second

Putting People First Without Putting Carers Second (2.5 MB)

Putting People First Without Putting Carers Second (printable version) (1.0 MB)

This report, launched on 26 February 2009, was produced jointly by The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Caring for Carers. It looks at how carers, and the services that support them, are responding to the personalisation agenda.

Personalisation is the driving agenda for adult social care. Increasing numbers of people will be called upon to contribute to care. Carers are, therefore, at the heart of this culture shift.

On the same day the government announced the findings of its evaluation of individual budgets: 'The Individual Budgets Pilot Projects: Impacts and Outcomes for Carers'. Find out more: Individual budgets can benefit carers, research shows

Putting People First and Supporting Carers

Putting People First and Supporting Carers (236 KB)

This short paper, "Putting People First and Supporting Carers" was prepared by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services [ADASS] in late 2008 and published in early 2009. It is very much a companion paper to "Putting People First without Putting Carers Second" published by The Princess Royal Trust for Carers. The ADASS paper identifies some messages for local leaderships around five high impact areas and offers a carers' "quality of life" model for discussion as a means of furthering the shared vision around the transformation of adult social care.

Trust Guidance: self-directed support, resource allocation and carers

A collection of documents relating to personalisation, transformation and resource allocation and was launched in October 2009. This document is an overview of some of those for carers’ services.

Trust Guidance: self-directed support, resource allocation and carers (81 KB)

If you encounter any difficulties in viewing PDF documents available on this page, please see: Help accessing PDF files.