The need for more specialist services for carers of people with a serious mental illness was one of the talking points at today’s “Movin On Up” event in Ammanford, Carmarthenshire.
This week is national Carers Week. The aim of campaigners across the UK is to highlight how carers often sacrifice their own health and wellbeing due to their caring role. A Carers Week survey shows that two in five unpaid carers are sacrificing their own health by putting off medical treatment to care for an ill, frail or disabled loved one (find out more at http://carersweek.org/).
Speaking about the issues affecting carers Christine Williams, whose 31-year-old son was recently diagnosed with schizophrenia, said: “I welcome the Carers Strategies (Wales) Measure (introduced in January 2010) but when you get down to it, all that law does is make the NHS and local authorities come up with a Strategy for providing carers with information.
“This is OK but what’s far more important is the quality of support we get. We want comprehensive assessments backed up by service delivery. It’s no good giving us generic services, what we need are specialist services. A lot of carers services are designed for people who care for those who care for the physically disabled or children.”
The “Movin’ On Up” campaign is run by service users and carers and supported by mental health charities Hafal, Bipolar UK and the Mental Health Foundation. 22 weekly county events are taking place and the campaign will culminate in a climb of Wales’ highest peak, Snowdon, in September. The campaign will also feature an interactive stand at the Royal Welsh Show and, on World Mental Health Day, at the National Assembly.
• For more pictures from the event go to Hafal’s Facebook page.
• For more information on the “Movin’ On Up” campaign please visit: www.hafal.org
• To get the latest updates on Twitter please go to: http://twitter.com/#!/hafal_
• For more information on Carers Week 2012 please visit: http://carersweek.org/
• For more information on the Carers Strategies (Wales) Measure 2010 please click here