Warwickshire Carers wishes in National Carers Strategy
This week the Government launched its National Strategy for Carers 'Carers at the heart of 21st Century families and communities'.
It is the culmination of many months of consultation with carers across the country and to which carers in Warwickshire have contributed their views about the support they need.
Carers in Warwickshire will be pleased to see that the National Strategy picks up on the issues highlighted by them at Carers Workshop on 2 June organised and run by local carers John Cain and Graham Hill and members of the Carers Partnership Board working together with Warwickshire County Council.
John Cain, a carer from Stratford, who provides fulltime care for his wife particularly welcomed the additional money announced by the Government to provide breaks for carers. He said: “I’ve been fortunate in receiving breaks which give me a chance to relax and enjoy activities that I simply couldn’t do without help. Carers need breaks to enable them to carry on caring.
Graham Hill, a carer from Rugby, who gave up work to care for his wife feels that the emphasis on providing clearer sources of information will help other carers like him.
Graham said, “When I gave up work to look after my wife we didn’t know where to go for advice. There are excellent sources of information, particularly Guideposts and South Warwickshire Carers Support Services, but they need to be more clearly signposted for new carers.”
Graeme Betts, Strategic Director of Warwickshire County Council’s Adult Health and Community Services feels that the national strategy mirrors what local carers have been telling us and welcomed the increased resources to tackle these priorities.
He said: “Locally, carers have told us what they need to help them in their caring role. The national strategy and the additional resources will help us to provide the support they need. We have already increased investment in services for carers by providing £150,000 for Direct Payments for carers and we are expanding our range of emergency back-up services.”
In addition to this investment Warwickshire County Council has recently appointed Christine Lewington to a new senior level post of Carers & Customer Engagement Service Manager with a remit to improve services for carers.
Christine said: “The views of carers are central to what we do. Last week at the Carers Workshop we invited carers to prioritise the support that would be most useful to them. If there are any carers who feel that they would like to contribute their comments in the light of the National Strategy we would be delighted to hear from them.”
Ann Power, Carer Co-Chair of the Carers Partnership Board commented that
“Many carers will be disappointed that the national strategy will not make any difference to their immediate financial circumstances but at least we have assurances that this will be looked at.”
Guideposts Carers Support Service can be contacted on 024 76 385888
South Warwickshire Carers Support Service can be contacted on 01926 485486
Carers can ring Warwickshire County Council on 01926 410410 for information.