Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport – in the Senedd at 2:45 pm on 5 October 2016.
Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Without the more than a third of a million unpaid carers, our social care sector would be massively overloaded. It is estimated that unpaid carers save the health and social care sector over £8 billion a year. Research by the Carers Trust found that 30 per cent of carers don’t take any breaks and that 65 per cent of carers spend what little breaks they have doing household chores. Carers need regular breaks if they are to remain healthy and able to continue providing care. Without respite, carers’ health and well-being is put at risk and there is an increased likelihood that those they care for will have to be admitted to hospital or residential care. Carers Trust are calling for a carer well-being fund to be established in Wales to provide breaks for carers. Will the Welsh Government consider establishing such a fund? After all, it is a small price to pay considering the savings that Wales’s 370,000 carers deliver to our NHS and social services each year.