STATE OF CARING REPORT 2016
As well as a long term policy agenda to improve
support for carers, action on the following in the next
year would make a difference to carers’ lives:
• Many more local authorities/Health & Social Care
Trusts and employers working with Employers for
Carers and Carer Positive in Scotland, for example, to
boost workplace support for carers supporting carers
to remain in and return to work.
• New governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern
Ireland to commit to putting carers at the top of their
policy and legislative agendas.
• The NHS building on existing carer friendly policies by
introducing carer passports in every hospital trust or
board and ensuring GP practices are identifying and
improving carers’ quality of life.
• Any new policy decisions on older and disability
welfare policies to consider the impact on carers and
carers’ incomes to ensure that they support caring
rather than penalise carers for looking after relatives
and close friends.
• NHS trusts jointly reviewing hospital discharge
practices with local authorities/Health & Social Care
Trusts and community health services to ensure
that carers are identified, consulted and properly
supported when the person they care for leaves
hospital.
• In light of the rise in the National Minimum Wage, the
earning threshold for carers should be increased with
a commitment to align future increases.
• Local authorities/Health & Social Care Trusts
reviewing their practices to support carers,
including waiting times for assessments and how
information and advice could reach carers earlier
and more quickly for example, by exploring digital
communication methods.
• As one of the UK’s largest employers the NHS has a
key role to play from the individual GP practice, to the
largest NHS Trust or board, in supporting staff to stay
in employment. A similar role could be played by the
care industry in looking after its own care workers to
retain valuable staff.
• Governments setting out clearer expectations of how
quickly a carer’s assessment should be carried out.
• Regulations and guidance for the Housing and
Planning Bill should ensure that the needs of carers
are recognised in changes to housing policy in
England.
Only
6%
of carers expect their quality of life to get better in the next year.
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