View from the house: a secret service with a mission of caring

Jun 10 2009 Cheryl Gillan MP for Chesham and Amersham, Buckinghamshire Advertiser

THIS year, Carers Week, which highlights the work that carers do, week in, week out, throughout the year, has chosen the theme of The UK's secret service.

There are six million carers in the UK and, unfortunately, their work can go unrecognised. Yet without it people in our community would face huge problems.

Employers and other organisations with which the carers are involved may not even be aware that individuals have responsibilities as carers. I know from family experience that many carers would not dream of doing anything else but provide the necessary care themselves.

Since April 2007 carers have had the right to ask their employer to consider flexible working arrangements.

Carers Week is this week, June 8 to 14. Information on local events can be found on the website www.carersweek.org  or by calling 08452 412 582.

Carers need to know that help is available if they do choose to call on it. Within the community we all need to be alert to the fact that someone, no matter what their age (because there are many young carers too) may be coping on their own, when they could plug into the network of support that is available.

We only have to look at the infrastructure that has to be put into place when an individual does not have an informal (often family or friend-based structure of care) to realise how complicated it is to build that network from scratch.

It is enormously difficult to formalise the procedure; it is quite amazing how much family and friends do spontaneously, and how much our whole community depends on what they all do.