carers

The NHS Plan, Department of Health (2000) made a commitment that patients should be able to receive copies of clinicians’ letters about them as a right in order to improve communication and enable patients to participate in their care. In South Gloucestershire, the opinions of local service users with learning disabilities, their carers, and professionals working within learning disability services about this issue were sought using questionnaires and focus groups in order to identify and then develop good practice.

Purpose of the study: Caring for a spouse diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease holds potentially severe negative consequences for the physical and psychological well-being of the caregiver. As it is known that the maintenance of a flexible time perspective holds benefits for individual health, the main purpose of this study was to identify and describe the changes in the time perspective of persons caring for a spouse diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

This second article on family care-givers will focus on how healthcare assistants (HCAs) can support such care-givers within a variety of care settings, including GP practices, healthcare centres, hospital departments, hospital wards and in the care-giver's own home. Suggestions for training of HCAs who are likely to work with family care-givers will be proposed.

Concerns raised over number of prosecutions made against care staff or carers for ill-treatment or wilful neglect of people subject to the Mental Health Act or Mental Capacity Act. [Journal abstract]

Concern has been mounting about the health and welfare of people who provide informal care for family or friends with chronic illness. In particular, young and elderly people - vulnerable groups in their own right - may be carrying a heavy burden. The extent of the problem is not well known because estimates have been pieced together from ad hoc local studies and household sample surveys. These estimated that young carers in the United Kingdom numbered between 10,000 and 50,000, and that about one in 20 older people in Great Britain spent long hours caring for sick family members.

The authors studied a group of older carers of aging adults with Down syndrome (DS) to ascertain what effects such caregiving may have on them given the presence or possibility of age-associated decline or dementia. The study also examined the comparative levels of care provided, key signs noted when decline was beginning, the subjective burden experienced, and what were the key associated health factors when carers faced a changed level of care.

Hampshire: Alzheimer Cafe UK – a new approach to support for people with dementia and their carers – has been launched in Hampshire. Kandy Redwood explains.

The White Paper Valuing People said the aim for people with learning disability should be choice of where and how you live. This is rarely the experience to date. A publication has been written for family carers, social workers and others who want to find out more about the various housing and support options for people with learning disabilities. It explains the choices, how to go about getting housing and what support people can find. Six individuals and their families allowed us to describe their different ways of creating housing and support arrangements.

The overall aim of the work was to inform the NHS Service Delivery and Organisation (SDO) R & D Programme about the theory and evidence on carers’ access to health care.

Background A third of family carers of people with dementia report abusive behaviour towards the person for whom they are caring.