New approaches to supporting carers' health and well-being: evidence from the national carers' strategy demonstrator sites programme: report summary

The National Carers’ Strategy Demonstrator Sites (DS) programme was developed by the Department of Health (DH) as part of the commitments made in the 2008 National Carers’ Strategy (HMG, 2008). The DS programme, delivered across England, comprised 25 partnerships. With a delivery period of 18 months, each site was expected to develop new, innovative services for carers, or to extend existing provision if effective arrangements were already in place. The programme focused on three areas of support: • Twelve Breaks sites aimed to measure the quality and effectiveness of a range of new approaches to offering breaks to carers. • Six Health Checks sites aimed to deliver annual physical health and / or health and well-being checks for carers. • Seven NHS Support sites aimed to explore ways of providing better support for carers in a variety of different NHS settings. The aim of the programme was for sites to develop and enhance the local support available to carers and, where possible, to measure the quality and effectiveness of the new provision. The national evaluation of the DS programme was commissioned to assess the extent to which these goals were achieved, with a particular focus on: mapping the Demonstrator Sites’ activities; assessing the effectiveness of their initiatives; examining the impact on carer health and well-being; outlining the cost of initiatives; and assessing the extent of carer engagement in the planning, delivery and evaluation of the programme.