Supporting carers’ health and wellbeing

A widespread lack of support and recognition from health and care services is severely damaging unpaid carers’ mental and physical health. People caring round the clock for older, disabled or seriously ill relatives do not have adequate support from statutory services that are in place to help them – leaving many steeped in thoughts of hopelessness, fear, dread, and urgently in need of support.

Our evidence shows carers’ mental and physical health is getting worse, and for some it is at rock bottom:

82% of carers say the impact of caring on their physical and mental health is a challenge.
27% say their mental health is bad or very bad.
Over three quarters (79%) of carers feel stressed or anxious, half (49%) feel depressed, and half (50%) feel lonely.

Unpaid carers desperately need more support to help them look after their own health and wellbeing. Working with local authorities and the NHS, the next Government must urgently drive a programme of quicker and more targeted interventions to prevent poor mental and physical health amongst carers. The NHS also needs a strategic approach to identifying carers across all its structures and delivery mechanisms, so that it is identifying carers systematically and proactively.

I have cancelled a hospital appointment twice as I had no one to assist me after an anaesthetic. I am back on antidepressants and anxiety tablets after trying to control my own mental health to no avail.”
An unpaid carer

The next Government must:

Transform the way the NHS interacts with unpaid carers to make it the most carer-friendly health service in the world
Legislate to place a new statutory duty on the NHS to have regard to carers and support their wellbeing, to ensure systematic identification of carers in all NHS settings
Invest an additional £1.5 billion in breaks and respite services in England (with consequential funding for Devolved Nations) and legislate so all carers have a statutory right to regular and meaningful breaks.
Invest in a programme of activities to improve carers’ mental health and address other factors which affect carers’ mental health such as poverty, discrimination, housing and other related issues
Recognise that caring is a social determinant of health
Ask the Equalities and Human Rights Commission to undertake an inquiry into the accessibility of healthcare services for unpaid carers.

Sherene's story

When Sherene’s husband Lee experienced a life-changing traumatic brain injury, she became a carer overnight, but it took years for her to find support.