carers

Differences in perspective between clients, carers and practitioners are familiar from the literature. Findings from two research projects are reported here, which identify mismatched perspectives and appear to question the foundations on which community care policy and practice rest. The article discusses features of the policy and practice context that contribute to the likelihood of divergent views about need and appropriate or effective service provision within community care.

This article reports on the first extensive survey of Approved Social Worker (ASW) activity under the Mental Health (Northern Ireland) Order 1986. The integrated health and social services organizational structure, the adverse effects on individual mental health of the legacy of thirty years of civil conflict and the move from hospital to community care are significant features which have influenced the delivery of mental health social work services locally.

Although the focus on carers has increased in general psychiatry, the same cannot be said for forensic psychiatry. This is despite the fact that carers of mentally disordered offenders may experience additional pressures including in some cases, being the victim of the patients' crime. A survey of medium and high secure units in England and Wales was conducted to investigate support provided to carers of mentally disordered offenders. Most units provided some form of support, but there was variation in the types and amount of support provided.

This chapter explores working partnerships with carers of older people and particularly carers in full or part-time employment who may have many stresses and conflicting demands in their lives. The legal and social context of caring is traced from The NHS and Community Care Act (DH, 1990) and subsequent care in the community initiatives. Another milestone was The National Strategy for Carers (DH, 1999a), though there has only recently been a government commitment to partnership with carers against very patchy previous provision.

It is ten years since Valuing People promised a ‘new deal’ for family carers. Valuing People was explicitly concerned to ensure a cultural shift in the way services worked with and conceptualised the role of family carers. It included specific objectives for involving families in local partnership boards, providing better support for them in their caring role and investing in family leadership nationally, regionally and locally. This article considers why there was a need for a more family-focused approach to support.

Mental health: A year and half after the groundbreaking 10 high-impact changes were published comes a new version specifically for mental health services, writes Jackie Ardley

The author lists the Care Services Improvement Partnership's 10 high-impact changes for mental health services that have the greatest positive impact on service users and carer experience, service delivery, outcomes and staff.

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.

Older people experiencing dementia are twice as likely to fall with consequences of serious injury, reduction in everyday activity, admission to long-term care and mortality. Carers of people with dementia are themselves at greater risk of physical and mental ill health, which increases as the dementia progresses. Unsurprisingly, carer burden also increases when a care-recipient falls. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of falling of community-living older people with dementia and their carers.

The film aims to raise awareness of how society treats older people,  as well as raising funds for a cancer care charity Macmillan nurses, and Help the Aged. The film takes a journey through a day in the life and a life in the day of stroke victim Elsie, played by actress Virginia McKenna. Elsie craves compassion and understanding of the person she is on the inside rather than the useless ‘carcass’ she may appear on the outside. Elsie makes a heartfelt but silent plea for her carers to ‘Look closer…see…me…’

Family carers provide more care than the combined efforts of the NHS and social services departments, and their value to the economy is estimated to be around £34 billion a year (Hirst, 1999). However, many carers have health problems of their own.