Research

Research carried out in 2012 found that carers are at breaking point. 47 per cent of unpaid carers said they were made ill by money worries. 45 per cent of unpaid carers said that caring had pushed them into debt. The Valuing Carers Research Report 2011 records 23,094 carers within the Medway towns, who save a cost of £431 million a year. Kent has a total of 143,331 carers, which saves an overall of £2.48 billion each year. Tracey supports Carers Week every year because thousands of people in Chatham & Aylesford sacrifice not only their time, but also their money and their health in order to care for a loved one. Together they save this country an incredible £119 billion every year. It’s vital that carers are offered regular breaks from caring and health checks so that they can be supported. Tracey is thrilled that the new Care Bill will for the first time include rights for carers, a great step forward, but we must do more to identify carers and ensure they are able to access the services and support that they need to continue to both care and remain well.

Carers Week

9th – 15th June 2014 marked the very important week where we celebrate a very special group of people, carers. This year Tracey spent most of the week out of the country this year as she was in Ecuador climbing a volcano in order to raise money for the Battle Back Centre in Lilleshaw, the centre for wounded service men and women from all three forces is a rehabiliation centre that uses sports. She has, however, supported Carers Week for a number of years now and continues to campaign on improved welfare and support for carers in Parliament and locally on an ongoing basis.

The focus of Carers Week 2014 is the Carers Week Quest. The Carers Week Quest is an exciting new initiative to encourage improved collaborative working in local communities to reach out to carers. It aims to reach out to the thousands of carers in the UK who are currently missing out on services and support.

The Carers Trust and Carers UK are just two charities who aim to do just that. Carers UK is an organisation committed to making life better for everyone who cares, unpaid, for an older or disabled loved one. The Carers Trust envisions a world where carers receive all the help and support they need. To that end, they provide a search network for carers on their website to help find services and benefits available to you.

If you are a carer, find out what support you can receive in the community by following this link:

http://www.carers.org/carers-services/find-your-local-service

You can also follow Carers Week by using #carersweek or visiting www.facebook.com/carersweek

Please sign up to the Carers Week Quest at the following link; http://www.carersweek.org/ 

Parliamentary Activity

To see all of Tracey’s Parliamentary activity on Carers please click here.

Newspaper Columns

You can read a copy of her Medway and Kent Messenger Columnm on this topic here.

 

Dementia Action Alliance Carers Call to Action

Tracey would also like to encourage anyone who is interested to sign up to the Dementia Action Alliance Carers Call to Action and sign up for the free webinars. The Dementia Action Alliance will be running a free webinar programme on Thursday afternoons. This webinar will cover supporting carers.

You can hear Frank Arrojo and Louise Langham talk about their experiences of caring for their parents with dementia and what The Carers’ Call to Action is doing to campaign to support the needs and rights of husbands, wives, partners, children, friends living with dementia.

Leading charities, public bodies and private providers have come together to issue a call to transform the lives of families and friends caring for people with dementia. By working together we aim to transform the lives of 550,000 family carers of people with dementia in England today.

What is a webinar?

A webinar enables a large number of people from different locations to view a presentation on their screen and listen to the speaker via their phone.

How to register:

Please register by completing the form in the following link; www.dementiaaction.org.uk/events. 

#dementiaaction