Do you look after someone or does someone look after you?
A carer is someone, who, without payment, provides help and support to a partner, child, relative, friend or neighbour, who could not manage without their help. This could be due to age, physical or mental illness, addiction or disability.
A young carer is a child or young person under the age of 18 years carrying out significant caring tasks and assuming a level of responsibility for another person, which could be taken by an adult.
Many people are in a caring role for someone close to them but don’t automatically consider themselves to be a “carer”, because they are simply looking after and helping their wife, husband, partner or friend.
We are looking to identify the “hidden carers” within our local community to ensure that they are informed about the resources that are available to them within the local Irvine area. The Unity Enterprise North Ayrshire Carers Centre can help and provide you with information on topics such as respite care, holidays, transport and mobility, money and benefits, other support organisations, education for carers and also how to cope with bereavement.
To make yourself known as a carer, it couldn’t be simpler, contact the practice on 01294 279178, hold for assistance and ask to speak with Pauline. Pauline is our main point of contact here at the practice for our Carers, or complete our online form by following the link below.
We will then add you to our register of carers and ask you a few questions about who you care for so that we can make a connection between you and the person that you care for. This helps should your caring role involve arranging appointments, ordering prescriptions or contacting us for advice on behalf of the person that you care for.
Voluntary carers are invaluable to those that they care for and we want to keep your health and wellbeing at its best and we will invite you to come into an extended appointment with our Healthcare Assistant for a health check once a year. Our Healthcare Assistant, Carolyn, will carry out a basic health check and offer advice and signposting to other services as required in relation to your health or other queries you may have.
Help us to Keep Carers Caring
If you would like to find our more about the Unity Enterprise North Ayrshire Carers Centre, you can call them on 01294 311 333