Advice For The Three Million People Aged 50 And Over Caring For A Parent In Later Life, UK

Main Category: Seniors / Aging
Article Date: 28 Mar 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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There are currently over three million carers aged 50 and above in the UK and many of these are looking after older relatives. According to charity Help the Aged, however, many facing this situation do not know where to turn for support and guidance on the subject or what services and benefits are available to help make their lives that little bit easier.

Help the Aged is therefore offering the following advice to carers, taken from 'Caring for a Parent in Later Life', one of the new LifeGuides books commissioned by the Charity. These pointers provide a good starting point for anyone who finds themselves becoming more involved in a parent's or older relative's life as they become less able to cope:

- Whatever the trigger that signals a change in your relationship with your parent, try very hard to allow them to retain their status, their dignity and their place in the family.

- Accept that you are a carer. If you are taking full or partial responsibility for someone else, you will need to know about lots of things that you were perhaps barely conscious of before.

- Include your family and friends. Do not insist on trying to cope alone - you will need the help of others for support and to enable you to take a break from caring.

- Tell your GP that you are now caring for your parent and ask the doctor to write the details on your notes. Some GPs offer greater flexibility over home visits and times of appointments if they know you are a carer.

- Tell social services (part of your local authority). You will find out about support services and also be offered a carer's assessment.

- Tell people at work. There may be support you are unaware of, and flexibility if you have to take leave at short notice.

- Claim your entitlements. The benefit system is complex, but you can check with Help the Aged SeniorLine (0808 800 6565 or, in N. Ireland, 0808 808 7575) what might be claimed.

- Find your nearest carers' group. Carers' groups or centres and branches of Carers UK provide information, arrange social events and give carers the opportunity to talk to other carers.

- Take care of yourself. As a carer you need, for example, enough sleep, proper breaks and to know how to lift without damaging your back.

- Think about the future. One day you will no longer be caring, and you may feel your purpose in life has ended. That's why you should try to keep up with your own friends, hobbies and interests as far as possible.

Taken from Caring for a Parent in Later Life (LifeGuides series), priced £8.99, available from Help the Aged via www.helptheaged.org.uk/publications or tel. 020 7239 1486

Caring for a Parent in Later Life provides invaluable information and advice for those who find themselves in the unfamiliar territory of needing to become more involved in a parent's life when they become less able to cope. In addition to providing practical and financial advice, the book sensitively explores the changing emotional relationship between the parent and son/daughter, not shying away from the poignant and sometimes harsh realities of this relationship going into reverse.

Notes

- Caring for a Parent in Later Life is one of a series of four new 'LifeGuides' commissioned by charity Help the Aged, which offer practical advice and information on some of the major issues that many people in mid-life and beyond face, but do not know where to turn for help. The other titles are Working at 50+, How to Thrive Past 55 and Making Money Work for Your Future.

- Judith Cameron is a journalist, writer and member of the government's Standing Commission on Carers and has extensive personal experience of caring. She is a regular contributor to The Guardian and other publications on aspects of care, where her work often reflects her passionate interest in social and family issues.

- Help the Aged is the charity fighting to free disadvantaged older people in the UK and overseas from poverty, isolation and neglect. It campaigns to raise public awareness of the issues affecting older people and to bring about policy change. The Charity delivers a range of services: information and advice, home support and community living, including international development work. Help the Aged also carries out vital research into the causes of certain diseases and disabilities in later life, and works to find lasting solutions to them.

Help the Aged