Brandon carers to get a break

11 March 2010

HUNDREDS of family carers will be given a break from their roles thanks to a new project designed to develop support in Suffolk.

The Time for You project aims to identify 200 carers from the Brandon area who do not use short break services, to take part in a research project.

Initially, five people, including family carers, have come forward to become what are known as “community researchers”.

Those five will be tasked with visiting the first 200 eligible family carers who come forward and who will then be asked to complete a short survey.

As an added incentive, there is £100 on offer for each of the 200 carers, to be spent on what they consider to be a break from their role. This could be anything from time away from the cared for person, to a mobile phone which would enable them to spent time outside of the house.

Each person will then be visited after a month to determine how and if the money has helped them, with a view to establishing long-term support in the town.

Lisa Baker, 38, from Princes Close in Brandon is one of the first five people to liaise with other carers. She is a full time carer to her six-year-old daughter Bethany who has a condition called microcephaly which causes its sufferers to develop a smaller than usual head, and therefore brain. Ms Baker also has a four-year-old son, George.

“If you're a carer there's still a stigma attached to it,” she said. “It's really rewarding but everything is a fight and everybody in that situation needs help.

“It can be very isolating for carers and there's not enough help for anybody anywhere.”

Funded by the Department of Health (DOH), and led by Suffolk County Council, the project will run until March 2011.

Throughout this period, family carers in each area will be consulted about which support services they would most like to see developed, plus contribute to a website containing a wealth of information about short breaks.

Tricia Ball, 75, from St Benedicts Road in Brandon, looks after her husband of more than 50 years, Norman, who has the degenerative condition motor neurone disease.

“Your whole life changes because the person you're looking after is totally dependent,” she said. “You end up being confined to your home and you feel you're not getting enough help.”

More than £1m was secured from the DOH by Suffolk County Council, and is only one of 12 areas in the country to be selected as a “short break demonstrator” pilot project.

The county council has commissioned social care specialists Turning Point, Suffolk ACRE, and Ipswich Borough Council to carry out research and identify and support family carers within their local communities, starting with Brandon, Ipswich, Peasenhall and Sibton .

Project leader for Turning Point, Kate Jones, said according to the 2001 census there were 800 family carers in Brandon.

Short break coordinator at Suffolk County Council, Clare Hammerton, added that throughout Suffolk 90pc of carers were unknown. “The aim is to understand the impact a break has on the carer and their caring role,” she said. “On a Suffolk basis we'll be using the information to see what services are really effective and it will lead onto the future commissioning of services. We're looking for the hidden carers.”

Anyone who would like to find out more or take part in the project should contact Kate Jones on 0207 481 7657.