Midlothian Unpaid Carers Strategy Consultation

Overview

Midlothian Integration Joint Board (IJB) is a planning and decision-making body created by Midlothian Council and NHS Lothian that plans and directs some health and social care services.  We are responsible for developing a local strategy to set out our visions and plans for how we will support unpaid carers and also use this strategy to guide how we arrange and provide information, advice and support services to unpaid carers.

The Scottish Government defines an unpaid carer as someone who is providing care and support to family members, friends and neighbours. The person or people they care for may be affected by disability, physical or mental health conditions, frailty or substance use. A carer does not need to be living with the person they care for. Anyone can become a carer at any time in their life and sometimes for more than one person at a time. Carers can be any age from young children to older people.

We want your feedback to make sure that the priorities we think are important, you think are right.

Why your views matter

Unpaid carers of all ages make a valuable contribution to the support that people receive in Midlothian commuities.  We want to make sure that we understand and respond to the things that carers think are most important about support for themselves as carers.  Through listening to carers in the Midlothian Carers Survey (2023), looking at carer research and survey results from national sources, and speaking to staff from local support services we have identified 5 main priorities.  We want to check if you agree.

The 5 priorities are:

1.      Carers Rights and Identification

2.      Providing Information, Advice and Support

3.      Providing Carer Economic Wellbeing

4.      Supporting Health and Wellbeing (including breaks from caring)

5.      Supporting Carer Involvement in Care Planning

On the following pages we will give more information and ask what you think about these.