ABOUT UNPAID CARERS

ABOUT UNPAID CARERS

If you are under 18 years of age and help out with a sister, brother or parent, doing one of more of the tasks listed below, you will find information specifically for you in the Young Carers section of this website.

If you are 18 years and over and support a family member or friend with care and/or support, our Adult Carers section is your starting point.  This includes parents or guardians who support a child or children that have additional health, care or support needs due to a physical disability, learning disability or medical/health condition.

If you have left school at 16 or 18 and up to the age of 25, you may be termed a Young Adult Carer.  You may want to visit our Adult Carers section as well as the Young Carers page to get all the information you need.  Or just give us a call if you’re not sure or can’t find what you need.

If you are a professional (teacher, social worker, health professional, third sector service provider), then our Professionals section will be a good starting point on how you might identify and support unpaid carers.

What you might do as an Unpaid Carer

The list of things people might do is broad but we’ve listed some of the key tasks here:

Care tasks:

• Personal hygiene – for example helping someone to wash or clean themselves.
• Assistance with getting someone out of or into bed.
• Assist with dressing / undressing.
• Assistance with hearing aids, artificial limbs, leg callipers or other physical aids.
• Care of skin, nails and hair, including assistance with shaving.
• Care of pressure areas and prevention of sores.
• Care of mouth and teeth, including dentures.
• Assist with toileting and the management of continence of bladder and bowel
• Assist with mobility and transfers – helping someone move around the house, in and out of chairs, etc.
• Prepare meals and drinks.
• Provide assistance with eating and or drinking.
• Supporting someone with their medication. This might include having to regularly remind someone to take their medication; measuring or setting out the right medication at the right time; helping to administer it.
• Assist with rehabilitation. Supporting someone with exercises to improve their strength, mobility and ability to physically do daily tasks.

 

Support tasks:

• Housework that can’t be done by the person you support because they are not physically able to or it may not be safe for them to do so.
• Shopping for groceries and other essential items because the person you support is not able to.
• Provide a safe environment for those who need regular or constant supervision and help. This will include people with dementia, children with learning disabilities, people with sight loss and those who are frail and have poor mobility.

 

If you’re still not sure if you may be an unpaid carer, please do contact us.