Quality services for carers

The government will be introducing national standards for carer support services to which all local authority and health authority services will be expected to comply. The Kings Fund was asked to facilitate the drawing up of these standards and, following wide consultation, will submit its proposals this month. Penny Banks, chair of the Equality Standards Steering Group, King's Fund, describes some of the key features of the new standards and stresses that although they have been drafted primarily for carer services they will also apply to mainstream statutory services, such as hospitals, GPs, nursing, housing and homecare. [Introduction]