Today in the UK, more than 1 in 10 of us are an unpaid carer, looking after a friend or family member with illness or disability. Unpaid carers are a particularly at-risk group due to the physical and psychological factors involved and often present to healthcare services as secondary patients.
70% of unpaid carers already suffer from back pain – the world’s leading cause of human disability. Through our research, education and outreach activities, BackCare is working to help prevent and manage back pain in unpaid carers.
The Carer’s Guide to safer moving and handling of people.
Unpaid carers save the nation a staggering £119 billion every year – that’s more than entire NHS budget.
Replacing just one injured carer costs Social Services thousands of pounds.
Prevention is now a legal obligation of Councils following the 2015 Carers Act (clause 2).
The Carer’s Guide to safer moving and handling of people is designed for unpaid / family carers, and is based on HOP6 – the leading national training text, as used to train UK nurses and paramedics.
BackCare recommends that to avoid preventable additional pain and emotional suffering in both carers and their loved ones:
Councils provide this for their assessors to give to carers as part of the assessment process (bulk discounts apply – a small investment in prevention will save many times that amount)
Charities promote this to their carer members (£4.95 – or again bulk discounts apply)
