Retirement

Deteriorating health, having to cancel operations and worrying about what will happen to your loved one when you’re gone is the reality for older carers. 

According to new research from The Princess Royal Trust for Carers more than one in eight people aged over 60 is a carer and almost 70% of the older carers in our survey said caring had a negative impact on their physical health.

One third (34%) reported cancelling a treatment or operation for themselves because of their caring responsibilities. Half (49.2%) said that their health had got worse in the last year.

Being on call

The report, Always on Call, Always Concerned, surveyed 639 older carers (aged 60-94), who look after a sick or disabled family member and found that 65% of older carers have long term health problems or a disability themselves and only half feel safe or confident in lifting the person they care for.

Well known names who support the trust

Dame Judi Dench, Angela Rippon, Joanna Lumley and Alistair Campbell are among the well-known names supporting The Trust’s push to highlight the adverse effect of caring on older carers’ health.

Dame Judi Dench says: ‘Having been a carer myself, I understand the stresses and strains involved in looking after a loved one. There are many, many older carers around the country doing tremendous work looking after their family or friends but it’s often at a cost to the carer’s own health and well-being, as shown by this report from The Princess Royal Trust for Carers. Carers already save our economy billions and they need more support to enable them to continue in their caring role.’

The pressure of caring

The pressures of caring also impact on older carers in other ways with seven out of ten (68.8%) saying that being a carer has a negative impact on their mental health. Four in ten (42.9%) overall said that their mental health had deteriorated in the last year. But carers in the younger age group 60-69 seemed to be more at risk with almost half (48.3%) of this group reporting a deterioration in mental health. A major concern for eight out of ten older carers is what will happen to the person they care for in the future.

A word from a carer

Geraldine, 71, cares for her husband Barrie aged 80. Barrie had a stroke in 2008 and Geraldine has been providing him with 24-hour care since then. Geraldine says: ‘My GP tells me that if it hadn’t been for me Barrie wouldn’t be here but it’s put ten years on me.

I suffer from osteoporosis, scleroderma and Raynaud’s disease. To treat the scleroderma I have to have special treatment every so often or I’ll die basically. Once I put it off and contracted gangrene in my finger. To receive the treatment I have to go to hospital for five days at a time and so try to arrange the treatments for during school holidays so my son, who is a teacher, can take care of his Dad.

‘My back is playing up very badly because of all the bending and stretching. I’m getting more and more bent over because of all the work I have to do caring for Barrie. I do think sometimes if I keep doing this job it’s going to kill me but my son and daughter are a great help and of course it’s great to see Barrie so improved. The doctors told me he wouldn’t live but now he’s eating and speaking again which is wonderful.’

More must be done

To address these issues, The Trust is calling on local authorities and local health providers to give greater recognition to the benefit of supporting older carers.

• GPs should offer a physical health check to older carers once a year.

• GPs should provide screening for depression at least once a year.

• GPs should offer home visits to carers if necessary to fit around their caring role.

• Hospital appointments should be flexible to meet the needs of carers.

• Carers who need to carry out lifting as part of their caring role should be funded by their health trust or local authority to have training and equipment to do this safely.

• Health services should work with the local authority to fund breaks for carers since having a break helps maintain physical and mental health.

• Effective methods of promoting mental wellbeing in older carers should be developed by health and social care agencies to reduce the risk of stress and depression.

What the survey tells us

Liz Fenton, Chief Executive at The Princess Royal Trust for Carers says: “The survey clearly shows how carers can harm their own health when looking after others. Many carers told us about being in severe pain, with crumbling spines, arthritis, back problems, cancer, kidney problems, depression and heart problems but struggling on in their caring role.

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers is calling for easily accessible, comparatively low cost preventative services at local level which can improve the lives of carers. This will enable people to choose to be cared for longer at home and ultimately save public money.’

For more information:

Carers can also get help by visiting their local Carers’ Centre or by going online at www.carers.org