great britain

How do carer support programmes meet the needs of those caring for dependent mentally ill older people? Julie Hall reviews the evidence.

There are increasing concerns about the future availability of informal care for older people, particularly care by their children. This article explores past trends in the provision of informal care by children/children-in-law between 1985 and 1995 in Great Britain, using successive General Household Survey data. The article suggests that, during this period, there was a decline in co-resident intergenerational care and that this was associated with a decline in highly intensive intergenerational care.

Royal college of psychiatrists, leeds, 28 february

Learning disability practitioners should drop any barriers that stop relatives from contributing to the care being delivered to older service users, according to Andrew Fairburn, the medical director of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Trust.

The author argues that funding for young carers' support should be ring-fenced to avoid that possibility that British councils may use the budget to fend off the next budgetary crisis. He describes young carers as children who take on responsibility for their families, acting as main carers for their disabled or chronically ill parents and siblings. The government has funded initiatives to support young carers. However, he notes that government aims to transfer this funding to local authorities.

There are more than 1 million people in the UK looking after a family member or friend with cancer, but half the number of these carers do not receive support to care. Providing this care significantly affects cancer carers emotionally, physically, and financially. Community and district nurses have a vital role to play in reaching out to these hidden carers and signposting them to the correct support. This article provides tips on identifying carers, including who they are, the challenges they face, and how health professionals can approach and speak to them.

The article reports that studies by several British educational organizations have found that access to social services for vulnerable students in state schools is inadequate. The organizations referenced include the Young Carers Research Group at Loughborough University, the Children's Society, and National Foundation for Educational Research. Research by these groups has shown that educators often discipline vulnerable children for bad behaviour without addressing the cause of such behaviour.

The article presents a study that examined the experiences, needs and service responses to the 290,000 young adult caregivers aged 16-24 in Great Britain today. It says that the research included a literature review, secondary analysis of 2001 Census data, a survey of 25 young caregivers projects, a survey of 13 adult carers services, focus groups with 29 young caregivers aged 16 and 17, discussions with staff at focus group sites, and in-depth interviews with 25 young adult caregivers aged 18-24 across the country.

In this article, we compare accounts given by young carers and specialist support workers about the riskiness of becoming a carer relatively early in life. We argue that since the mid-1990s, the policy response has problematised the comparatively early adoption of a caring role as a risk factor for future personal development. This temporal issue has become societally organised around concern about NEETs (young adults not in education, employment or training).

This article looks at results of a government-commissioned study in Great Britain concerning kin carers. It found that despite suffering more financial hardship, many kin carers are paid less than unrelated foster carers. They are more likely to receive little or no social work support, have no family placement worker and no access to training. It warns that special guardianship orders could similarly be used by local authorities to restrict services for kin carers.

The authors reflect on the importance of learning and development for transforming dementia and end-of-life care. Topics discussed include dependency of quality of dementia care on care providers including registered practitioners, support staff and informal carers, focus on person-centred care and building the leadership skills and confidence to influence care given by diverse and multiprofessional team.