The Princess Royal Trust for Carers

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers logo
Formation 1991
Headquarters The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, Unit 14, Bourne Court, Southend Road, Woodford Green, Essex, IG8 8HD, England, United Kingdom
Website www.carers.org, www.youngcarers.net

The Princess Royal Trust for Carers was created on the initiative of Anne, Princess Royal in the UK in 1991. At that time people caring at home for family members or friends with disabilities and chronic illnesses were scarcely recognised as requiring support.

The Trust was the largest provider of comprehensive carers support services in the UK.[1] Through its unique network of 144 independently managed Carers' Centres, 85 young carers services and interactive websites, The Trust provided quality information, advice and support services to over 400,000 carers, including around 25,000 young carers.[1] In recognition of its work for the welfare and development of young people, the Trust was a member of The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS).[2]

In 2012, the organisation merged with Crossroads Care to form Carers Trust.[3]

Who are carers?

The UK government definition of 'carer' is: "A carer spends a significant proportion of their life providing unpaid support to family or potentially friends. This could be caring for a relative, partner or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or substance misuse problems".[4]

A carer is someone, who, without payment, provides help and support to a partner, child, relative, friend or neighbour, who could not manage without their help. This could be due to age, physical or mental illness, addiction or disability. The term carer should not be confused with a care worker, or care assistant, who receives payment for looking after someone.

A young carer is a child or young person under the age of 18 carrying out significant caring tasks and assuming a level of responsibility for another person, which would normally be taken by an adult.

Anyone can become a carer; carers come from all walks of life, all cultures and can be of any age.

Many carers do not consider themselves to be a carer, they are just looking after their mother, son, or best friend, just getting on with it and doing what anyone else would in the same situation.

Carers don’t choose to become carers: it just happens and they have to get on with it – if they did not do it, who would and what would happen to the person they care for?

Context

The number of carers in increasing as the population ages and people with disabilities and serious illnesses live longer and are more likely to live at home.[5] Over the next three decades, the number of carers will increase by around 60% or 3.4 million carers.[6]

In addition, the country is becoming increasingly reliant on carers to deliver the new style of care for people with long term conditions, such as the home based and patient led care outlined in the Health White Paper, Our health, Our care, Our say.[7] The new policy drive for home based, individually tailored care must include a focus on carers to avoid care packages collapsing when an unpaid family carer cannot carry on. Even without the increases in quality the government wishes, the costs of care for older people will double by 2020.[8]

See also

External links

References

Notes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 The Princess Royal Trust for Carers (2007), Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. ↑ Full list of NCVYS members
  3. ↑ Press release, The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Care merge to become Carers Trust, 1 April 2012. Accessed 22 May 2012
  4. ↑ Department of Health (1999), Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ CSCI (2006), London Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ Carers UK (2001), Missing or empty |title= (help)
  7. ↑ Department of Health, Missing or empty |title= (help)
  8. ↑ Wanless, D. (2006), London: King's Fund Missing or empty |title= (help)