Carers Week is an annual awareness campaign to bring caring out into the open – recognising the contribution carers make to families and communities throughout North Wales and the UK.
Who are unpaid carers?
A carer is anyone who cares, unpaid, for a friend or family member who due to illness, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction cannot cope without their support.
Caring for someone can take up a few hours each week, or a carer may be caring 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Some carers live with, or near to, the person they are caring for, whereas others provide more remote support. Some look after more than one person.
The support provided by unpaid carers is varied and might include:
- Helping someone wash and dress themselves and with other personal care;
- Housework, food shopping and picking up and administering medication;
- Taking someone to hospital and GP appointments;
- Providing company and emotional support.
There are 6.5 million people in the UK who are carers. They are looking after a family member or friend who has a disability, mental or physical illness or who needs extra help as they grow older.
Caring impacts on all aspect of life, from relationships and health to finances and work. As carers continue to face challenging circumstances this year, it is vitally important that we connect them to the support they need to manage their own health and wellbeing.
Carers across the country have taken on huge challenges as a result of the Covid pandemic. Many have had to provide more care while dealing with financial pressures and increased levels of isolation.
Last year, we raised the profile of unpaid carers with our theme of Making Caring Visible and Valued. This year we’re building on that theme and will be focusing on recognising carers in our communities, valuing them for the vital contribution they make every day and finding ways to help support them when most needed.
This is why our theme for Carers Week 2022 is making caring Visible, Valued and Supported.
All of us, wherever we live, whatever we do, have a part to play.
If you, or someone you know is an unpaid carer, support is readily available here in North Wales by individuals, groups and organisations to reach carers, many of whom don’t know that help is available. Further information can be found at:
or via your Local Authority or Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
