carers

The author had a shock when she visited her mother in India and discovered the realities of caring for a person with mental health problems. Here she describes the difficulties that many carers cope with on a daily basis.

Young carers are children and young people who look after a family member with illness, disability or mental health or substance misuse problems. Often the relative is not getting the support needed from statutory services. Of an estimated 175,000 young carers, 13,000, including 3,500 at primary school, provide more than 50 hours a week. Asks why they are hidden and discusses the failing education and adults’ services. Most adult carers, let alone young carers, are  unaware of their rights.

Objectives: In recent years advanced technologies, such as Global Positioning Systems (GPS), allow for tracking of human spatial activity and provide the ability to intervene to manage that activity. The purpose of this study is to examine the issue of who should decide about the use of electronic tracking using GPS for people with dementia.

In early 1999 the government announced money was to be spent on giving carers respite breaks. Reports on how the money, despite coming through to local authorities, has not reached the carers themselves.

Argues that there has been global neglect of service users' and carers' experiences of dementia care provision in rural areas. The  paper draws on a qualitative study of service provision for people with dementia and their carers in remote and rural Scotland. It draws on interviews with 15 people with dementia and 16 carers to explore their views about health and social dementia care service provision in rural Scotland. A further 14 carers of people with dementia participated in one of three focus groups.

This article explores the potential impact of the mental health and mental incapacity law reforms on carers. The reform proposals anticipate a number of overlapping and at times conflicting roles for carers (including those of gatekeeper, decision-making proxy and advocate), which is suggestive of an ongoing ambivalence toward the caring role at the level of ethics, policy and strategic planning.

There are many different organisations working with and supporting carers. This guide can be used by a wide range of professionals in different ways. Whilst the case studies provide examples of the partnership work promoted by Carers Centres, the methodologies given can be used in other partnership work across carers’ services, as well as within health and social work services.

There are few published reports of night-time respite care for people with dementia. The authors review the literature on effectiveness of respite care and report on an audit of the Bexley ACE Night Centre. Night-time respite care is well received by carers who say that it helps them cope better and for longer with relatives who have dementia. Many carers say they would be willing to pay for the service if it were not free. They argue that models of very brief night-time respite should be developed further and researched more fully as they meet an important need of carers. 

Caring for people with dementia is complex and demanding, and informal carers carry out much of the care. In this article, Madeline Armstrong outlines the different types of dementia and discusses the psychological approaches to care. Informal carers experience many stressors when caring for people with dementia and Admiral nurses play an important role in supporting carers.

Richard Ward, Andrew Clark and Matthew Hargreaves outline the findings of a study that looked at how carers of people with dementia relate to their neighbourhood, and the implications that has for improving local support