Hearing from Carers in Wandsworth

Two years ago we spoke to carers about the challenges they face and managing their own health and their feedback helped develop a new cares strategy. We spoke to carers recently to see if support had improved. Find out more about what they said.
Three women standing outside a hospital talking

Between July 2018 and January 2019 we ran a survey to find out what it's like to live as a carer in Wandsworth. Carers often tell us that they struggle to manage, so we encouraged them to share their views on the support currently available to carers, and what more might be done to improve support. 51 carers across a range of ages contributed.

“It’s heartening to see a growing culture of people sharing their experiences. It might just feel like your story, but if it matters to you, it matters to us, and it really can make a difference”

Imelda Redmond, National Director of Healthwatch England

The responses we received showed that the following areas need to be reviewed in order to better support our carers:

  • Early and easy access to mental health support, particularly coping strategies and wellbeing resources
  • Information on the support and other benefits that carers are entitled to
  • Readily available information on the health condition of the cared for and other topics
  • Review of the carers assessment content and process.

We discussed our findings with the council, NHS service commissioners and our local hospital. 

Read our report and Wandsworth council's response to our findings, are available on the News & Reports page of our website.

Read more