Warwickshire County Council, in partnership with NHS Warwickshire, is refreshing the Carers’ Strategy for our local area. The purpose of this is to provide a clear understanding of the needs of carers in Warwickshire and to develop a policy framework for the commissioning of services to meet those needs. As you will be aware there is considerable pressure on resources and information gathered from this survey will help to evidence the need for support in this area. As part of that work we are asking people who are in a caring role to tell us what kind of services they find most useful and what needs improvement.

A carer is someone of any age who provides unpaid support to family or friends who could not manage without this help. This could be caring for a relative, partner, a child or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or substance misuse problems.

A young carer is someone under the age of 18 who provides a significant amount of care and support to a relative who has a disability, illness, mental health condition, or substance misuse problems.

We have been consulting with carers about other services in recent months, particularly in relation to Dementia and Learning Disability strategy development. If you feel that you have already given your views on the services that are most important to you through these consultations you may not wish to complete the questionnaire but please do look through as you may find there are other issues you want us to be aware of that were not covered elsewhere.

If you have any queries about the refresh of the Carers’ Strategy or this questionnaire please contact Elaine Cook on tel. 01926 745142 or by email at elainecook@warwickshire.gov.uk

Further information about the Carers’ Strategy Refresh and the consultation process is available on our web page www.warwickshire.gov.uk/carers