What Carers Want
I feel like a computer with a virus and its completely knocked me out. I can’t rest, I am not eating properly and smoking too much. I feel isolated and don’t know who I am anymore
What we did
Carers have an important and central role in the health and care of the people they look after and often tell us they face challenges in their caring role and looking after their own health and wellbeing.
We spoke to a number of carers from different backgrounds, who support people with a variety of health needs. Using our carers' survey we found out about their experiences, challenges and the suggestions they had to improve things for themselves and fellow carers.
Key Findings:
Carers wanted improvements in the following areas:
- Early and easy access to mental health support, particularly mental health coping strategies, wellbeing resources and general support.
- Information on available support and what they are entitled to. All services and commissioners could help with this.
- More information about the health condition of the person they care for and other information.
- The carers assessment process may need to be reviewed.
A number of themes emerged that we felt would benefit from further investigation by local service providers, so that carer services and support are better promoted, or improved. You can read about this more in the full report available for download below.
Our report has been passed to local service commissioners and providers and Wandsworth council has now responded to our recommendations (also available for download below).
Downloads
If you need this report in a different format, please email enquiries@healthwatchwandsworth.co.uk or call 020 8516 7767.