Carers

Carers

These two courses will help GPs and their practice teams to better identify and support carers in the practice.

Supporting Carers in General Practice 

Carers provide unpaid support for disabled, sick and vulnerable people who would not be able to manage without their help. They are a valuable resource, saving the UK economy in excess of £119 billion every year in care costs.

Around 12% of adults in the UK are carers and so every GP will come into contact with carers every day of the week. Involving carers in care decisions and supporting carers to maintain their own health and the caregiving situation can prevent unnecessary admissions or residential care home placement and enable people with health problems to live independently for longer.

This 3 hour course provides information and guidance for GPs and other community healthcare professionals to enable them to build carer involvement and support into their everyday practice.

Access Supporting Carers in General Practice

Taking Action to Support Carers in Practice Teams

This 2 hour course is based on the RCGP Supporting Carers in General Practice DVD that was developed in 2012 with funding from the Department of Health. The DVD was highly commended by the BMA.

It is designed to focus on supporting carers from a practice perspective, and as such it may be used as group training for practice teams as well as by individuals. Sessions can be completed one at a time, then saved, in order to return to later.

Working through the contents will give you the rationale behind increasing awareness and support for carers, whilst also highlighting and signposting areas that can commonly be improved or changed to the benefit of both carer and practice. The accompanying self-assessment checklist (to be found in the Resources section of each lesson) can be completed to monitor practice support of carers and act as a baseline for measuring progress.

Access Taking Action to Support Carers in Practice Teams