England

The article reports on a Public Health England (PHE) scheme aimed at identifying and supporting the wellbeing of young carers in England through the help of school nurses and other public health nurses. The scheme was honoured at inaugural awards of the Academy of National Health Service (NHS) Fabulous Stuff. According to PHE lead nurse Wendy Nicholson, many carers do not speak up because they fear that they would be removed from their family homes.

Working carers are a key focus of UK policies on health and social care and employment. Complementing national and European evidence, this paper presents a local case study of working carers. It draws on data from a county-wide survey containing a module on caring. Data were primarily categorical and were analysed using SPSS. Three quarters of all carers who responded to the survey were of working age: two thirds were employed and one third had been employed previously. The majority of working carers were mid-life extra-resident women.

Much policy and practice attention has been focused on the participation and involvement of informal carers in service assessment, provision and review. The advent of the National Carers Strategy, the Community Care Delayed Discharge Act, Carers and Disabled Children Act and latterly the Carers (Equal Opportunities) Act have all played their part in giving greater significance to carer involvement. The role of professional cooperation and willingness to see carers as equal partners is a key factor in achieving these objectives.

Although palliative care aims to support family members and informal carers, current evidence suggests that high levels of unmet need persist, and that this population is challenging to work with. This study aimed to 1) measure the proportion of patients that have an informal carer, 2) describe the clinical notes data on existing needs and coping, 3) measure the completeness of assessment data recording, 4) appraise the utility of existing informal carers’ sections in the patient files, and 5) make recommendations for improvement. An audit was conducted reviewing 145 closed patient files.

The article reports on the Young Carers' Day 2007 outing organized by the Essex Council in England for young carers and their families. The city council's adolescent services has collaborated with young carers' groups in organizing the event. Over 300 young carers and their families have attended the event at the end of June 2007. It notes that there are 5,000 young carers in the city.

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.

A pioneering nurse is leading a pilot programme to tackle physical and mental health problems among young carers.

Objective: To explore the causes of preventable drug-related admissions (PDRAs) to hospital.

Design: Qualitative case studies using semi-structured interviews and medical record review; data analysed using a framework derived from Reason’s model of organisational accidents and cascade analysis.

This paper describes a series of practice and service development initiatives to incorporate the family-inclusive approach into the newly established Early Intervention in Psychosis Service in Berkshire, England. Following a local study on carers' experiences and needs from those who cared for a young adult with a first-episode psychosis (FEP), a series of flexible services for this group of carers has been developed incorporating the much-researched psycho-educational family interventions.