Support provided by a carer
Caring for someone can mean helping with personal things such as:
- Carrying out practical tasks, such as cooking, housework and shopping
- Providing physical care, such as helping someone out of bed or to use the stairs
- Providing personal care, such as helping someone get washed or dressed, providing emotional support, such as talking to someone who is destressed or upset
- Managing money/budgets
- Collecting prescriptions or administering medication
- Helping someone communicate, this may be due to hearing or speech impairment, or because English is not the person's first language.
Some people may also provide care in the form of emotional support.
Young carers
Young carers often take on practical and/or emotional caring responsibilities that would normally be expected of an adult. The help and support young carers provide can vary depending on the:
- Nature of the illness or disability of the person they are looking after
- Level and frequency of need for care
- Structure of the family as a whole.
A young carer's responsibilities may also include looking after siblings. Some young carers may undertake high levels of care, but for some it may be frequent low levels of care. Both can impact heavily on a child or young person.