Carers - understanding your health and wellbeing role

Healthwatch Warwickshire undertook a project to understand the quality of a carer’s life in terms of their health and wellbeing and their experience of accessing support for themselves to help them maintain their own health and wellbeing and consequently that of the people they care for. They found that:

• About a third of carers feel that their friends and family and even their healthcare providers lack an understanding of their situation. They feel a lack of empathy and a lack of desire to help them.
• Nearly half feel that they do not spend enough time doing the things they value and enjoy, aside from their caring role. This includes not spending enough time focusing on their own health and wellbeing.
• Stress, frustration and loneliness were the most mentioned words when trying to access or receive support, especially from Social Services and respite care.
• Not having enough time is the main barrier that stops them looking for or trying to access support.   
• Not everyone likes, or identifies with, the term ‘carer’ as there is often a lack of understanding of what the term means.

The report contains recommendations to help providers improve the health and emotional wellbeing of the carers.