Abstract

During early 2015 Lincolnshire County Council commissioned Lincolnshire Carers and Young Carers Partnership (LCYCP) to undertake the Older Carers Project. The project provided support for carers over the age of 55 who had grown up children with learning disabilities to produce contingency and future care plans. The aim of this was to ensure that when the carers could no longer continue in their caring role, sufficient plans were in place to avoid a crisis where their son or daughter may be forced into residential care causing unnecessary stress and expense. This evaluation talked to carers who had received support about their experience of the project.

A total of 12 semi structured interviews were conducted with service users about the support they had received from the Older Carers Project, the future planning they had undertaken and any benefits of the intervention. This enabled any strengths and weaknesses occurring across the initiative to be identified and recommendations for future interventions to be provided.

The evaluation found that the Older Carers Project had been a very successful project in helping carers set up emergency and future plans. The participants all held the support they had received from project support workers in high regard and valued having a service aimed at themselves rather than their sons or daughters. They talked positively about the flexibility of the support, the role and knowledge of the project support workers and the delivery of the project by a third sector organisation. In some cases the project had highlighted benefits and support that the carers did not know they were entitled to. Further work was required to ensure that project plans were shared and that the cared for person was included in any discussions where appropriate.

Overall the preparation of plans for the future had enabled carers to feel more settled and positive about the future for themselves and the future care their son or daughter may receive.