Recognising the Value of Unpaid Carers

From November 2020, the Collaborative Communities Team have been leading a project which aims to support improvement work across the ihub to ensure that unpaid carers are identified and supported at all points across the health and social care spectrum.  

The demand on unpaid carers during the pandemic has increased significantly.  Figures released for Carers Week (8th – 14th June 2020) show an estimated 392,000 people in Scotland have become unpaid carers as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. This is on top of the 729,000 unpaid carers in Scotland who were already caring before the outbreak, bringing the total to 1.1 million. [Carers Scotland, Jun 2020].

This work will support people who work in health and social care have the skills, knowledge and confidence to identify, support and involve carers as equal partners and understand the implications of the Carers (Scotland) Act 2016 for their practice, culture and ways of working.

Measures of success will include improved status of unpaid carers in the ihub’s portfolio of work. Ensuring the voice of unpaid carers are integral to the way in which we provide improvement, service redesign and engagement.

If you would like to know more about the project, please contact the Team by emailing his.peopleledcare@nhs.scot