Carers

— What is a carer?

— Why you should inform us if you are a carer

What is a carer?

A carer is anyone, including children and adults who looks after a family member, partner or friend who needs help because of their illness, frailty, disability, a mental health problem or an addiction and cannot cope without their support. The care they give is unpaid.

Why you should inform us if you are a carer

If you care for someone, it’s a good idea to let us know so that we can add this to your medical record. Doing so means we will be able to offer tailored advice and offer you additional support for things such as flu vaccinations, regular health checkups and mental health screening.

Once registered as a carer, we can assist you in a number of ways, including:

• providing information and advice on medical conditions/treatments for the person you care for to help you feel more confident in your caring role
• arrange home visits to you or the person you care for if your caring responsibilities make it difficult to attend appointments
• arrange ‘double’ appointments for both you and the person you care for at the same time to avoid having to visit the surgery more than once
• provide supporting letters and information to enable you and the person you care for to access benefits such as Attendance Allowance or a blue badge scheme

If you would like to register as a carer, please let us know by calling us on 0151 645 2306 or emailing us at cmicb-wi.gladstonemc@nhs.net. We will need to know the name of the person you care for and your relationship to the person.