A carer is someone who looks after a relative, friend or neighbour, who needs support because of their sickness, age or disability. A carer doesn’t have to live with the person they are caring for; they might be juggling work and caring responsibilities or caring for someone who lives elsewhere.
The contribution of unpaid carers to care in the community is enormous, and it is mportant that information about services and support available is available. It is also vital that the needs of carers are understood and that their voices and concerns can influence local services and plans.
Carers strategy
See downloads on the right hand side of the page for details of 'Supporting Carers in Bolton', the local strategy for carers. This was published in 2009 and is being reviewed in 2012. Under Links on the right hand side of the page, you can also find details of the national strategy for carers, 'Recognised, valued and supported'.
Information and advice
If you are looking after someone and would like advice and information, Bolton Carers Support provides a dedicated service for carers.You can contact their helpline, ‘listening ear’ service and also request a copy of their regular newsletter; ‘Carers Contact’ by telephoning 01204 363056. You can click onto their website under Links on the right and find more information, including useful factsheets you can view/download of topics of importance to local carers.
Carers Direct is a national information portal for carers run by the NHS - see the link under Links on the right.
For advice and information about social care support, please see the heading 'Needs assessment by Social Services' under Links on the right - this takes you to the webpage giving the contacts for Adult Social Care for enquiries and assessment.
Also, see the link to Carer Support Groups and Organisations which gives information about further potential sources of information and support.
Carers' assessments
If you are looking after someone and would like to see if you can receive help in your caring role then you can ask for a Carers’ Assessment. A good explanation of carers' assessment is given in the link to the Carers' Direct webpage on this topic, again under Links on the right of this page.