ANNA WELCOMES LABOUR PLEDGE OF NEW SUPPORT FOR TEESSIDES CARERS Anna Turley, Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Redcar today (Wednesday 14 January) welcomed Labour’s announcement of help for families caring for elderly and disabled relatives. Liz Kendall MP, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Care and Older People, today set out plans which will improve the support given to nearly 70,000 unpaid family carers across the Tees Valley, if Labour wins the General Election in May. The package of measures includes: - A new duty on the NHS to identify family carers, so they can get the right help and support, and a new right for carers to ask for an annual health check – allowing problems to be identified earlier and prevent costs escalating - A single point of contact with care services for families caring for people with the greatest needs, so they don’t have to battle different parts of the system - Ensuring the funding currently identified for carers’ breaks is properly ring-fenced, to make sure all the money goes to family carers - Consulting with employers, trade unions and carers organisations on how to improve flexible working for family carers, which could include measures such as a new period of ‘adjustment leave’ to help families cope with a short-term crisis - Recognising the transport costs facing family carers, by including family carers in the groups who can be eligible for hospital car parking concessions - Abolishing the bedroom tax – which hits 60,000 carers and penalises them for the extra facilities they need Anna Turley said: “Carers are the unsung heroes of our society and they are forgotten about too often. Unfair measures such as the bedroom tax have placed huge strain on many local disabled people and their carers, making daily life a real strain. I am pleased that Labour is bringing forward these proposals which will improve the quality of life for 10,000 carers in Redcar alone. These are practical measures that will make a real difference to many.” Anna Turley has also pledged to introduce a Carers’ Forum if she’s elected as Redcar’s MP to inform her work and highlight issues facing unpaid carers. Liz Kendall MP said: “Family life is changing and more and more of us are looking after elderly or disabled relatives. This can often be a real struggle and many families feel pushed to breaking point. “Too often carers have to battle all the different services to try and get the support they need. One in three family carers who are in paid work have to give up their job or reduce their hours because they can’t get the right help to care or flexible working hours. “Most unpaid carers don’t have enough time to pay attention to their own health, and many don’t come forward for help or get any breaks. Often people don’t even see themselves as being a carer – they’re just a son, daughter, husband, wife or partner trying to look after the person they love. “It’s not right that people who do so much get so little in return. We need to improve support for families, and Labour’s package of measures will make a real and practical difference to their lives.” Ends Background Notes There are 5.4 million people in England caring for relatives and friends[1]. There are 295,703 carers in the North East region with 69,450 carers in the Tees Valley area. The number of carers in the UK is set to increase by around 60 per cent over the next 30 years, with three in five people in the UK becoming carers at some point in their lives[2]. The number of people caring for more than 50 hours a week is growing rapidly and currently stands at 1.3 million – many of them are at risk of social isolation, poor health and financial hardship as a result of giving up work to care[3]. Caring can take a serious toll on carers’ physical and mental health. Full-time carers are twice as likely to be in bad health as people who don’t have caring responsibilities[4]. Two in five carers are put off having medical treatment because of their caring responsibilities[5]. This can impose significant costs as carers often seek help in an emergency, costing the NHS more and leaving the person they are caring for in need of extra support. One in three family carers has to give up work or reduce their hours because they can’t get the support they need. Not only do they see their standard of living suffer, but employers lose their skills and experience and it costs the public purse £1.3 billion a year in lost tax revenues and increased benefits[6]. ‘Adjustment leave’ is a short-term period of leave or flexibility to help employees deal with an immediate crisis in care, such as a relative having a stroke, and to allow time to adjust to a new caring role. Many people don’t see themselves as a carer and therefore miss out on the support they are entitled to, which can mean costs escalate; for example, three in five people looking after someone with cancer are not aware that they are a ‘carer’[7]. According to a Carers Week survey, health professionals only identify one in ten carers, and GPs only identify seven per cent of carers[8]. When the Care and Support Bill was going through Parliament Labour voted in favour of putting a new duty on the NHS to identify and support family carers so that carers get timely support, which is better for them and more cost-effective. As well as the mental and physical pressures of caring, over two thirds of carers face higher transport costs as a result of caring – driving the people they care for to medical appointments or visiting them in hospital. Labour will amend the Department of Health guidance on car parking rules for NHS hospitals to include the principle that car parking concessions be made available to all carers. This means individual hospitals would be required to consider whether within existing resources they can make this available. [1] Census 2011 [2] Carers Trust [3] Carers UK [4] Carers UK analysis of Census 2011 data [5] In Sickness and in Health, Carers UK 2012 [6] Pickard, L., Public expenditure costs of carers leaving employment (2012) LSE Health & Social Care, London School of Economics and Political Science [7] Macmillan Briefing on Carers issues 2014 [8] University of Leeds (2011), New Approaches to Supporting Carers’ Health and Wellbeing: Evidence from the National Carers’ Strategy Demonstrator Sites Programme
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 08:28:42 +0000
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