Carers can be any age from really young children to much older people. Carers care for parents, partners, brothers and sisters, children, other family members and friends. They are not paid for the care they provide. The people they care for have a range of needs. The people cared for can be any age and might have long-term or short-term health conditions, physical or learning disabilities, mental health or substance misuse problems. Carers provide all sorts of care, including physical, personal and emotional support. They might also being doing things like shopping, cleaning and taking the person they care for to medical and other appointments. Some carers do this regularly and some do it all the time. Some people find caring manageable and rewarding. Others find it difficult to manage to the extent that that it makes them ill. Lots of carers lie somewhere in the middle – they have good days and bad days and that balance can easily shift. What is clear is that caring may (and in most cases does) have an impact on the carer’s own life, choices, employment, education, health and wellbeing.
We are working on our East Lothian Carers' Strategy and want to find out it you think we've got it right.