Kelly Tolhurst MP pledged her support to carers across Rochester and Strood as part of the national Carers Week 2016 awareness campaign, which ran from 6-12th June.
There are 6.5 million people in the UK who care for a partner, relative or friend, of which 10,053 carers are in Rochester and Strood.
The seven charities driving Carers Week 2016 are calling on individuals, organisations and services throughout the country to improve the lives of carers by building ‘Carer Friendly Communities’ – encouraging all parts of the community to think about carers and do things differently to support them.
The call comes after research for Carers Week revealed that a combination of inadequate support from local services and a lack of understanding about caring from wider society is having a negative impact on carers’ health, wellbeing, relationships and finances [1].
On this, Kelly said,
“Carers make a huge contribution to our society, providing vital and often hidden support to friends and family members. This is a very personal area for me given that close family members have dedicated much of their professional careers to this essential work around helping others to live better lives.
That is why I am supporting Carers Week 2016 and encouraging services across Rochester and Strood to think about what more they can do to help meet the needs of carers and make our communities more Carer Friendly.”
Carers Week is made possible by Carers UK joining forces with Age UK, Carers Trust, Independent Age, Macmillan Cancer Support, Motor Neurone Disease Association and MS Society.
Thousands of events are taking place across the country this week, and thousands of people have already pledged their support for carers online. To find out more about events in Rochester and Strood visit www.carersweek.org