Ministers to pledge free holiday to family carers as part of new plans to reform care system

June 9, 2012   Carers, family

White paper detailing changes to care system to be published later this month

  • Care services minister says current arrangements aren’t working
  • An estimated 1.25million people spend more than 50 hours a week caring for family member

PUBLISHED: 01:51, 9 June 2012 | UPDATED: 01:53, 9 June 2012

 

Carers looking after vulnerable relatives will be entitled to respite holidays paid for by the Government.

The ‘sandwich generation’, which juggles looking after  elderly parents with supporting children, will be given greater help under the plans.

Ministers will require councils to arrange support for carers including short holidays away from the person they care for, assistance with transport and training in care techniques.

Change: Carers looking after vulnerable relatives will be entitled to respite holidays paid for by the Government

 

A White Paper detailing the reforms to the care system will be published later this month.

Care services minister Paul Burstow said the current arrangements are leaving people who care for disabled adults or the elderly to struggle on their own. In some cases it leads to a deterioration in the carer’s health.

He said: ‘Carers are treated as second class citizens compared to those whom they support.

Bad situation: Care services minister Paul Burstow said current arrangements are leaving people who care for disabled adults or the elderly to struggle on their own

‘Yet if we don’t provide them with the right support they are unable to carry on with their caring responsibilities.

‘One of the things I want to do is to place the rights of carers on a much firmer footing, so that the law recognises carers’ rights and their role in caring for others.’

It is estimated that 1.25million people spend more than 50 hours a week caring for family members unable to look after themselves.

Campaign groups have warned that the Health Service would face collapse if people currently cared for by relatives had to be looked after by hospitals.

Mr Burstow pointed to the example of a doctors’ practice in Cambridgeshire where GPs are already able to prescribe short breaks for carers.

He said: ‘Rather than just saying, “Take two of these tablets and come back in a fortnight”, they can do things like prescribe a three-day break.

‘This sort of social prescribing is a great way of giving a carer a break rather than picking up the pieces once they’ve had a breakdown.’

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