February 18 - Caring for Carers

CEO and founder of Ostrich Laurence Kelly tells us more about the committee he set up, caring for carers:

Carers do a job which many would find impossible to handle, day in, day out - they work tirelessly to look after a number of patients, or in some cases they care full time for one individual who is often family. Most people don't plan on becoming a carer - often it's a changing family circumstance which leads to a change in career.

The isolation of being a carer

Currently, we have a lack of carers re-entering the workforce, having left to care for their loved one. Typically, carers become more isolated having to look after a family member; when you work 24/7 365 days a year, it is hard to have a social life.

Carers often tell me that they find it hard to "plan ahead" and that they feel they can't travel far - they even become nervous at the idea of doing so... "just in case." 

My question is, how can we help carers? Who cares for the carers?

A committee to help carers

I am starting a new committee, part of the Age Action Alliance, called "caring for carers." This committee is one of action, and its goal is to come up with a strategy to help carers, we won't just sit around drinking tea (or coffee in my case!)

One area which is proving problematic is employment hours and not having a flexibility of shifts, or working long hours to care for a family member.

It seems that most employers aren't particularly understanding towards their staff when they need to change their hours to look after Mum or Dad. I've had this debate with many people, and there really are some hard feelings towards these "big bosses."

Educating employers to understand carers

I see it very, very differently. Why? Because the "big bosses" haven't been educated on care and what it's like to be a carer - therefore, how can they understand their staff? The challenge is to educate employers so they understand what being a carer really means.

To me it's not dissimilar to the debate and campaigning for maternity leave and paternity leave - these now seem like a thing of the past, because the "big bosses", once educated, were able to change the policy about maternity/paternity leave.

Diverging points of view

I've met some people who I feel are fairly indifferent to the idea of talking to the "big bosses or corporates" - they don't want to be perceived as lobbying or trying to change their strategy on employment. My response is that if you're not willing to communicate with people and educate them, how can things ever change? It's necessary to act, and the sooner, the better.

There are some careers which would make it almost impossible to have a change of hours - like teaching for example. I accept that there are a number of jobs where the hours simply cannot change - with communication, a dash of common sense and dare I say it a splash of compassion... we can keep many people in work while also enabling them to care for their loved one.

Under-age carers

We have a number of carers in the UK who are under the age of 18, growing up with the responsibility of caring for their parent or a family member.

When I was younger, around 8 years old, a boy in my class genuinely was caring for his mother - he would go home and make dinner, take her to the park and walk to the shops to do the shopping.

There was no system in place to help him, no one to care for him - and I'm not entirely sure there is now. Some say there are as many as 250,000 carers under the age of 18 in the UK - how do we help them?

Can GPS monitoring help carers?

This year we will be closely monitoring the impact that BOB (our GPS tracking device, used entirely at the choice of the user, or in consultation with their family or carers) has on carers - mainly to find out how BOB improves their quality of life.

I was recently interviewed by ITV news on this and I am adamant that with a GPS, carers will be able to plan their days better, while being able to safeguard their loved ones should they get lost.

Let's get moving!

I'm starting the Caring for Carers committee because I believe that care should be connected... Being a carer is a tour de force, and they need more support.

With 7 million carers in the UK, we must do everything possible to improve their lives.