The Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) has published the first of a new quarterly series of 'Carers Statistics for Northern Ireland'. The statistics look at Carers Assessments and re-assessments – how many have been offered and either taken up or declined and the reasons why carers have declined them. It also looks at carers reviews and re-assessments. Here we'll discuss some of the findings.
In Northern Ireland there are 207,000 carers, people who, without payment, provide help and support to a partner, family member or friend who is frail, ill or disabled. Caring is part of life and can happen to any one of us, but without the right support caring can have a devastating impact. Evidence shows that caring can cause ill health, poverty and social isolation. When caring is intensive and unsupported you can struggle to hold down a job, get a night's sleep, stay healthy and maintain your relationships with friends and family.
When caring happens, many people are shocked to find out just how little support there can be. Help is often out there, but talk to many carers and they will tell you to be ready to fight tooth and nail for every bit of help you get.
Half of Carers' assessment offers being declined
For this reason we are disappointed to see that over half of the 2,500 Carers Assessments offered are being declined. Carers Northern Ireland believes that Carers Assessments are a vital tool to help carers get the support they need to continue in their caring role – a role which saves the Northern Ireland economy £4.4 billion a year in health costs.
Fear of failure
Why then do they refuse assessment? The statistics seem to support our view that many carers are unsure what an assessment involves and perhaps mistakenly see it as some kind of test that must be passed or a judgement on their ability to look after someone. Older carers in particular tend to struggle on 'without any fuss' and might be reluctant to take advantage of any help that could be highlighted by a Carers Assessment. Misplaced fears of the assessment having an effect on benefits or resulting in the looked-after person being taken into residential care all seem likely (de)motivators.
No benefit
A disappointingly high proportion of carers refused an assessment because they didn't see it as beneficial. This would suggest difficulties with the process, with too much emphasis on service provision, rather than on the things we know that really make a difference to carers lives – access to appropriate respite, information, recognition of their role and involvement in the healthcare decision making process. In these straitened times, there is natuarally a fear of raising carers' expectations of receiving services that can't be provided through lack of funds. These statistics highlight an need for health professionals to be more proactive and creative in their use of assessments.
Bad timing?
Interestingly a large number of carers felt the timing of the assessment offer was unsuitable. A simple explanation for this is likely to be that many carers would have to undergo the assessment in the presence of the person they look after, especially if there is no respite provision in place. This would naturally make it difficult to have a frank and open discussion.
Identifying carers
Carer identification is a major stumbling block. Many people don't describe themselves as 'carers', preferring to say "I'm just being a husband, a wife, a mum, a dad, a son, a daughter, a friend or a good neighbour." This prevents some people from seeing the relevance of a Carers Assessment to their own situation.
Opportunity
Despite the high refusal rates, we would continue to advocate for more widespread use of Carers Assessments. While it's a statutory right for carers to be offered an assessment, we feel that with more enthusiastic promotion, more creativity in their use and more proactive approaches to helping carers identify themselves as such, the Carers Assessment will become an invaluable tool to help people who give so much to society get a little more back in return.
Download the full statistics below:
