Well I’m still on a buzz from how well the day went! A total of 160 people attended the day, this included professionals from the PCT and Wiltshire County Council and carers.
Princess Ann opened the conference with a key note speech. She talked about the difficulties of living in such a rural area and although huge progress had been made in getting support for carers since the Trust started, getting respite care was still a problem. Princess Ann stayed for coffee and talked to all the carers. We listened to 5 carer’s stories throughout the morning which were very moving and thought provoking but we felt the professionals needed to hear them. Tom Pearce (parent carer) talked about carer’s allowance, the many roles of a carer and how there is a misconception about carers and benefits which leaves carers feeling devalued. Janet Dore talked about caring for her mother and how she did this whilst working and because she worked she felt people saw her as being in control. A further concern for Janet was that people who are self funding do not receive any help. Alison Lawford talked about caring for her husband and the effect it had when the few hours of respite were taken away. Michelle Dodd gave a very emotional talk about caring for her son. The stories finished with a lively bunch of young carers reading poems and saying what would help them to continue caring. After lunch we heard talks from Sue Redmond (Director of Community Services, WCC) and Tony Barron (Chairman, Wiltshire PCT). The focus of the afternoon were working groups which were organised into topics such as parent carers, mental health, physical impairment etc This was a chance for the carers to have their say around what the major issues were for them in this area, what wasn’t helpful and what was helpful. Many key people stayed for the afternoon and listened to the carers.
We all felt the day went extremely well and the key people who can implement change were there and listened to carers all day. We are aware that yesterday’s headlines fade fast so we will be working hard to follow up the day now we have a foot in the door.

Thanks to everyone who was involved to make this day the success that it was and a big thank you to The Apollinium Charitable Foundation for funding the day.