Carers
Do you look after someone?
If you have recently become a carer (Adult Carer/Parent Carer/Young Carer) please visit the surgery and ask for one of our Carers pack which provides lots of useful information. Alternatively please visit https://www.carersuk.org/
Do you provide help and support to a partner, relative, child, friend or neighbour who could not manage without your help due to physical or mental illness, disability, frailty or addiction?
If so you are a carer
Anyone can become a carer at any age — children and young people, parents, daughters, sons, spouses, partners and friends. Many people don’t think of themselves as carers; they just look after someone close to them. Caring often just happens to you, as you find that someone close to you gradually needs more help. There are thousands of unpaid carers in Bristol.
You may be a carer whether or not you live in the same house as the person you care for. If you receive a Carers Allowance or a direct payment to enable you to buy a service or equipment to help you in your caring role you are still a carer. If the person you care for, moves to live in a residential or nursing home you may still be a carer if you spend time managing their affairs and making sure that they are well cared for.
People employed to give care i.e. care assistants, care workers, nursing staff, etc are not included in this definition of carers, nor are people who work for organisations on a voluntary basis.
If you’re under 18 years old and look after another person at home, you may be a young carer
You might look after someone because they’re:
- disabled
- have a long-term illness
- have problems with drugs or alcohol
- finding it hard to cope with being a parent or carer
Look after your own health – tell your GP you are a carer
As a carer, it is important that you look after your own health so that you can go on caring for as long as you want to. It is easy not to look after your own health when you are looking after someone else.
Here at the Cadbury Heath Healthcare we want to be able to do all we can to try to help you to stay as fit and healthy as possible. We offer our carers free health checks so we can look after them as they look after our patients. We also offer carers a free flu vaccination each Autumn. By telling your GP you are a carer they will take this into consideration when arranging any treatment for you to making sure that the person you care for is looked after whilst you are attending any hospital appointments.
We keep a register of carers who are our patients so that we can support you, provide you with information about organisations that may be able to help you and let you know about any new services or support that becomes available. Please ask at reception for help with registering yourself as a carer with the practice or discuss it with your Doctor / nurse.
You can also let us know you are a carer by completing the form on this page: Online Questionnaires
Get the Carers Emergency Card
The Carers Emergency Card is a card you can carry that identifies you as a carer so that if you are taken seriously ill or you have an accident, anybody who finds you can ring the number on the card and tell the Emergency Communications Team that the person you care for needs help. This team can then provide up to 72 hours of care for that person in their own home. The only information held on the card other than the emergency telephone number is your carer PIN Number; the card carries no other personal information about you or the person or people you care for.
The carer’s card is FREE and you can apply HERE: Carers Support Centre
