Letter: Shine a light on the unpaid carers of Northern Ireland driving themselves to physical breaking point, poverty and despair

Over 220,000 people are providing unpaid care for sick or disabled family members across Northern Ireland today. They’re often doing so at a severe personal cost – driving themselves to physical breaking point, poverty and despair as they keep our health service afloat with little-to-no support in return.

Carers NI’s annual State of Caring survey seeks to shine a light on these experiences and give a voice to carers. It covers a wide range of themes, including carers’ finances, health, wellbeing and more – helping to build a picture of unpaid caring and highlighting the biggest challenges facing our carer population.

We’d encourage as many carers as possible to complete the survey and help generate the evidence we need to make a case for change to Stormont. It is available online at: www.tinyurl.com/StateofCaringNI23 or contact Carers NI on 0808 808 7575 and ask for a copy to be posted out.

Craig Harrison, Carers NI