ARE YOU A CARER?
A carer is someone who, is in receipt of carer's allowance or who without payment, are the main carer of a person who could not manage without their help or who's welfare may be at risk if the carer falls ill. This could be due to age, physical or mental illness, disability or addiction. A carer may be a child, young person or an adult.
We are interested in identifying carers, especially those people who may be caring without help or support. We know that carers are often ‘hidden’, looking after a family member or helping a friend or neighbour with day-to-day tasks and may not see themselves as a carer.
Caring for someone is an important and valuable role in the community which is often a 24-hour job that can be very demanding and isolating for the carer. Carers should receive appropriate support by way of access to accurate information on a range of topics such as entitlement to benefits and respite care and not least a listening ear when things become too much.
If you are a carer you are also entitled to have a Carers Assessment which provides a chance to talk about your needs as a carer and the possible ways help could be given. It also looks at the needs of the person for whom you care. There is no charge for an assessment. Appointments can be booked for this directly through BVM. Please give the surgery a call and ask to book into a carers session.
Please contact us if you are a carer so we can update our records and send you a carers pack which includes some relevant information regarding national and local support services.
You can complete the form and hand it in at any site, or send it to bnssg.BVMCRL@nhs.net
USEFUL LINKS
You may find the following websites useful or for more support, you can telephone the Carers Line which is open Mon-Sat 10am-1pm on 0117 9652200.