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Up to £6 million will be made available over the next four years to help GPs identify carers earlier, Care Services Minister Paul Burstow announced in November.

Speaking at the Carers UK Summit, Mr Burstow outlined a series of measures to further support carers as he launched ‘Recognised, valued and supported: Next Steps for the Carers Strategy.’

This article describes a nurse led service operating on three adult acute psychiatric wards in a hospital in South London. On each ward a member of the regular nursing staff spends one day meeting with families and carers. A case is made for the need for such a service, and its aims are described. An example of a series of meetings with the relatives of one patient is given, illustrating the benefits of this type of service.

BACKGROUND: There are few published health technology assessments that have included the impact of a disease or treatment on caregivers' health related quality of life (HRQL). The objectives of this study were to explore the overall HRQL of caregivers of people with multiple sclerosis compared to matched controls, and more specifically explore the impact of different levels of functioning in people with MS on caregivers' HRQL scores. METHODS: A cross sectional observational study conducted as an online survey was undertaken in the UK.

Objective: Prevailing measures of subjective caregiver burden either have no overall summary score or do not consider the relative importance caregivers attach to different dimensions of burden. Our aim was to assess which dimensions informal caregivers perceive as being important to their overall burden from care giving.

Design: Cross-sectional.

The Carers Strategies in England and Wales herald opportunities to develop new ways to support carers. This paper reports findings from a five-year study looking at the Carers Strategy in Wales. It presents interview data arising from fieldwork with carers and statutory and voluntary sector staff. Our findings highlight a gap between the positive perceptions of staff concerning improvements in the availability and types of support to carers and carers' everyday experiences.

This article is part one of a three-part series designed to help nurses help caregivers.

There are at least six million unpaid carers in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and 1.25 million provide at least 50 hours of care a week.1 One in five households contains a carer.2 Sixteen per cent of carers are over 65, and half of those being cared for are 75 or older.3 Many are ‘round the clock’ carers. Carers are the bedrock of the care and support system; the vast majority of care needs are provided by unpaid carers at home.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has long-lasting consequences not only for the individual with the injury but also for family members. The aim of this study is to elucidate the meaning of family members' experiences of living with an individual with moderate or severe TBI. The data have been collected by means of qualitative research interviews with eight family member participants. A phenomenological hermeneutic interpretation (Ricouer, 1976) of the data reveal that family members struggle with their own suffering while showing compassion for the injured person.

A key feature of population ageing in Europe and other more economically developed countries is the projected unprecedented rise in need for long-term care in the next two decades. There is, however, considerable uncertainty over the future supply of unpaid care for older people by their adult children. The future of family care is particularly important in countries planning to reform their long-term care systems, as is the case in England.