Cash fund will provide vital support to Cumbria's carers
News & Star, 25 July 2011
Hundreds of carers across Cumbria are to benefit from an annual £500,000 fund which will be spent on giving them vital support.
GPs have agreed to invest the cash annually over the next four years in funding support services for the county’s army of carers, whose efforts save the NHS millions.
The announcement has come two years after health chiefs across the country were criticised for hanging on to cash the Government gave to primary care trusts to help ease the load of carers.
Just how the £1.75m Cumbrian carers fund will be spent will be decided by each of the county’s six GP-led locality boards.
They plan to target the support on carers whose work helps to reduce a person’s reliance on hospital and other NHS health services.
The boards will work closely with the county’s five carers’ organisations in Carlisle, Whitehaven, Kendal, Barrow, and Penrith.
Dawn Kenyon, of Carlisle Carers Association, said: "This is extremely good news for carers.
"It will mean GPs are able to refer carers for the help they need – for things such as benefits advice, therapy, and much needed breaks from their role as carers.
"It’s well known that a lot of carers face isolation, which can have a dramatic impact on their own health. It’s also been documented that if they do get a break, their health improves. I knew of one lady who was a carer who had not left her home in five years.
"Many have not had a holiday for years.”
There are thought to be more than 10,000 carers living in the Carlisle area alone, with the numbers of people fulfilling that role having increased dramatically in recent years.
Family doctors in Cumbria see the new fund as an important part of their ongoing commitment to provide more care and support for people closer to their home.
The aim is to cut unnecessary hospital admissions by expanding community health services and making better use of community hospitals, and other local facilities.
Teams of community nurses, home carers, occupational therapists and physiotherapists are available to help people stay at home.
Dr Geoff Jolliffe, Cumbrian GP with responsibility for carers, said: "Caring for someone can be incredibly rewarding but carers face huge pressures on their own lives. This new funding will be available to provide carefully targeted support for carers across Cumbria where it is shown that extra help could prevent someone from having to go into hospital.
"We are striving to provide services which support people at home to be independent and as healthy as they can be for as long as possible.”