Groups sign pledge to improve unpaid carer support
Naz BrightlyMore than 100 organisations in the North East have signed a pledge to improve support for unpaid carers.
Newcastle Carers said there were about 286,000 people providing unpaid care across the region, as a conference was held in Durham for Carers Week.
Kirsty Haynes, who looks after her son Marco in Newcastle, said he "brings so much joy to our life but we've had to fight for every single thing for him" while Naz Brightly said as an unpaid carer she "just had to keep on going".
This week the government launched a consultation to help more carers get back into work.
Early signatories of the pledge have included North East Mayor Kim McGuinness, North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, MP for North Northumberland David Smith and MP for Blyth and Ashington Ian Lavery.
Charity Point North, which helped deliver the conference, said it was about "turning that shared understanding into coordinated action that makes life better for carers across the North East and North Cumbria".
Luke Bramhall, chief executive of Newcastle Carers, said "so often, unpaid carers can be left behind", adding they were the "heartbeat of everything we are as a society".
He said the pledge would give them the "credence they need and the attention they deserve".
Kirsty HaynesKirsty Haynes, whose son Marco has Down's Syndrome and is deaf, said: "For the past two and half years he was in an out of hospital with constant infections I'd never even heard of.
"I had literally become a nurse. I didn't sign up to be a nurse, or a carer, but that's what I am.
"He brings so much joy to our life but we've had to fight for every single thing for him."
Naz Brightly is a carer for her mum who has severe arthritis and younger brother Sammy, 10, who is autistic.
She said "linking information across the region" would "make life a lot easier".
"You've just got to push on, even when it gets really hard," she said on the difficulties of being an unpaid carer.
The government said it was "committed to building a system that properly recognises and supports unpaid carers" as part of its plans for a national care service.
The Department of Health and Social Care said it had increased financial support for unpaid carers, by raising the allowance earnings limit by more than £2,750 in two years.
