Care to live or live to care?
Care to live or live to care? provides an insight into the experiences of older parent carers prior to entering ANGLICARE Sydney’s Support Coordination Program. It surveyed nearly 300 carers.
Of those surveyed, one in five is older than 80 years, more than 80% of older parent carers are women and just over one third of carers have been in a caring role for over 40 years.
These remarkable people are on call 24/7 and only receive occasional respite. As a result, most older carers struggle to enjoy relationships in the wider community, their families are under immense emotional and financial stress and they become more and more isolated.
To better support older carers and their families, ANGLICARE Sydney is calling on Governments to:
· fund more flexible models of in-home respite care so that carers don’t have to plan for months in advance;
· develop and implement ‘transition plans’ to help older carers plan for future care of themselves and those they care for, including long term accommodation options;
· develop centralised access points that refer carers to available help and service providers; and
· develop long term supported care options for people with a disability.
