King's Fund calls for support for carers

Carers from ethnic minorities and those who look after people who are mentally ill are less likely to get help from social services than other carers, a conference sponsored by the King's Fund, an independent research organisation, heard last week in London.

Health minister John Hutton admitted that help for carers was unequal across the country but claimed that the new coordinated ministerial approach,which was announced last summer, would ensure an “integrated approach” in future. “The government does value the role that carers play in our society,” he said. Details of the new strategy have yet to be announced.

Rabbi Julia Neuberger, chief executive of the King's Fund, said that “the government's move to consider the needs of carers in all its policies is a boost for people who often receive insufficient support,” though she noted that many carers “still get little support from the public services they subsidise.”

A report by the Social Services Inspectorate, published this month, found that access to help remained a “lottery of location,” with wide variationin provision. The report, A Matter of Chance for Carers? said that some respite services were unreliable or provided services of low quality, and thatthose who had been cared for often returned home more dependent than when they left.

It also said that those who care for people with mental health problems were especially critical of how little they were consulted about care plansand how little support they received, and that the quality of support givento people from ethnic minorities varied considerably.

Baroness Pitkeathley, chief executive of the Carers National Association, said that the government's new strategy was just the “end of the beginning” in terms of recognition of carers. She argued that the NHS would collapse without the support of the six million carers in Britain.

Penny Banks, manager of the King's Fund carers impact project, a three year national programme to improve support for carers, introduced the project's latest publication, The Carers Compass.

The report is designed to highlight awareness of carers' needs among NHS commissioners and managers who work in partnership with local authorities and voluntary organisations. She said that support for carers “should not be an add on” to other services and called on health professionals, from general practitioners to those planning hospital discharge, to “think carer.”

The Carers Compass is available from the King's Fund, 11-13 Cavendish Square, London W1M 0AN, price £3.