Respite care cuts

Responding to reports in the media today that cuts are being made to respite care services for families across Wales, Age Cymru's Victoria Lloyd says:  

"Vital respite care services in Wales are already struggling to cope with the demand that there is for them.

"Recent research from the Welsh Government showed that carers in Wales need better quality respite care services and more of them, and these cuts will only serve to make that situation worse.

"Research by Age Cymru shows that 66 per cent of over-50s in Wales provide care for someone, and 34 per cent of these carers have health problems which make it difficult for them to carry out their care responsibilities.   

"Respite services are vital because they give carers a break and time to protect their own health, manage employment and maintain an acceptable quality of life.

"The cuts to these critical services are a false economy, because they could lead to falls in the level of unpaid care in Wales which would put added pressure on existing state-run care services. 

"Older carers, especially, need more support as the pressures of providing care can contribute to a decline in their health.

"As a member of the Wales Carers Alliance, Age Cymru strongly feels the Welsh Government must ‘ensure carers get time off from caring' by providing additional funding for respite services in Wales."     

"We are calling on the Welsh Government to implement this recommendation as a priority to ensure that regular and sufficient ‘time off' for carers is included in all care packages developed by public bodies."