| Almost 2300 of those are under the age of 18, with more than 3500 aged 75 and over. Nationally, there are 481,579 carers in Scotland, around one in eight of the population, with the vast majority aged 18 to 64.
Statistics from the 2001 Census reveal that there is a growing number of unpaid people looking after ill loved ones.
A report conducted for the Scottish Executive looked at the future needs of unpaid carers and how services might need to change over the next few years. It found most of the carers they spoke to felt not enough was being done by the Scottish Executive in relation to support and recognition of carers.
The carers interviewed over a period of a year, which was completed in April this year, felt that although more money was made available to carers, it was difficult to access these resources.
Carers also felt they were treated with suspicion by the system and were continuously tested through endless bureaucratic hoops, being required to fill in complicated and repetitive forms.
Most carers found it difficult to think about the future. There were two main reasons for this. Firstly, they felt the current level of support was not satisfactory and, secondly, thinking of the future was daunting in that many carers feared for their own health and, therefore, their continued ability to provide care.
The main priorities identified by carers were: the recognition of carers as a job and paid accordingly, mainstream support services, more funding for voluntary and community organisations, to introduce a greater level of support over the next ten years to ensure support services such as care breaks, more counselling and assistance with form filling and help to pay bills.
A carer of a woman with Alzheimers’ in Fife said, “There are fewer barriers on the health side of things than on the social work side. There is always a struggle of whose budget. Why can’t they work closely together?”
A Fife woman caring for her mother who has a mental illness said, “I know my mum inside out. I know when she is hyper. When you are trying to explain the situation to people they think you are making it up. They are just seeing it with tunnel vision.
“That’s what you are up against all the time — someone telling you she is all right.”
The husband of a woman with Alzheimers’ in Fife added, “You need a Philadelphia lawyer to fill in the forms. The forms could be simplified.”
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