Looking After Someone? Let us Know!
Are you a carer? Do you care for a family member or friend? Carers often tell us that they put the health of the person they care for before their own. We know that if you’re busy looking after someone, balancing your other commitments to family and work can be difficult. Often there’s no time to think about your own health and wellbeing.
Cheriton Bishop and our branch surgery Christow are currently participating in a Devon Virtual Carers Centre initiative aimed at improving our identification of patients who are helping to look after someone.
We are providing Health and wellbeing checks for carers at both practices with our Health Care Assistants, supplying additional help and resources to carers as and when it becomes available.
Who is a carer?
“A carer is someone who, without payment, provides support to someone who could not manage without their help. This could be due to age, physical or mental illness, addiction or disability. A carer can be a spouse, parent, child or other relative, a friend or even a neighbour.”
A person does not need to be claiming or in receipt of Carer’s Allowance to be considered a carer, also the person you look after does not need to be in receipt of attendance allowance for you to be considered a carer. In fact, there are no minimum time requirements or levels of care that you have to meet or perform to be considered a carer.
There are plenty of people in our community who devote time to caring for someone else. This may be as simple as doing the shopping or collecting prescriptions, or may involve assisting with bathing, feeding and helping dress. If you are doing this, for a family member, friend, or anyone else, then you deserve recognition and our support.
Please give us a call or complete a Carer’s Registration form which you can collect from our practices. If you are known to us as a carer but you no longer look after anyone, letting us know would also help.
If you have any questions regarding being identified as a carer, or any concerns about your caring role please feel free to contact us on 01647 24272.