Caring about carers : occupational therapy and carer support
Kerry Micklewright has recently completed a systematic review , funded by an RCOT Research Foundation Grant . Here she reflects on her experience
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As occupational therapists , we work hard to support our patients to live well in the community . However , there are another group of people integral to the wellbeing of our patients ; their friends and family , who often take on the role of informal carers .
These individuals provide unpaid support for all manner of daily tasks , including personal care , shopping , meals , managing medical appointments , managing the household and personal finances , providing transport and sometimes even physically facilitating mobility and transfers .
They are also often an important source of social contact , emotional support and a vital lifeline to the wider community for vulnerable patients .
Health and social care rely heavily on carers to reduce strain on over-stretched services ; families and friends who facilitate hospital discharges , help support people to continue living at home and replace the need for costly formal care packages .
In fact , the estimated value of this support – between £ 57 billion to £ 100 billion a year – significantly outweighed that of formal care provided by health and social services in 2015 to 2016 ( Buckner and Yeandle 2015 ; ONS 2018 ).
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic , the importance , value and prevalence of informal care has only increased . Prior to the pandemic , 6.5 million people – or 10 per cent of the UK population – were estimated to be informal carers ( Carers UK 2019 ).
New restrictions to protect the vulnerable , combined with scaled back access to formal support , is thought to have contributed to an additional 4.5 million people providing informal care in 2020 ( Carers Week 2020 ), with a recent survey from Carers UK suggesting carers were also providing an average extra 10 hours a week caring per person during the pandemic ( Carers UK 2020 ).
We can often forget the impact providing this support has on carers . There is an alarming abundance of evidence that caring without appropriate support can have detrimental effects on health and wellbeing .
Carers struggle with stress , fatigue , depression , anxiety , financial troubles and difficulty juggling work with caring . They are , on average , less happy , lonelier and in poorer physical and mental health than the general population .
Sadly , this is a situation that does not appear to be improving ; the same survey mentioned above indicated that
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36 OTnews October 2021
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