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	TX: 15.11.04 - Carers' Act 听 PRESENTER: JOHN WAITE

	THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT.听 BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE 91热爆 CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. WAITE Now you may remember that at the time of last year's Queen's speech we asked You and Yours listeners to nominate their proposals for inclusion and in the alternative legislative programme, which we drew up from your calls, the overwhelmingly most popular action was to provide more support for carers. The plight of carers cracking under the pressure has hit the headlines only recently of course - an elderly man abandoned in a hospital after his family said they could no longer cope and the parent carers of a teenage girl who were driven to a suicide pact because of the strain. 听 Well tomorrow sees the launch of a new initiative to improve the lot of carers which is part of the upcoming Carers' Act. It's the brainchild of Dr Hywel Francis, a Labour MP, who was himself a carer and he joins us now. 听 First of all Dr Francis can you give us an idea of what life can be like for carers at the moment? 听 FRANCIS Well when it happens to you of course it comes as a great shock, your whole world is turned upside down. There are all kinds of mixed emotions - fear of the unknown, anxiety, stress which leads to distress, tiredness. Eighty percent of carers, and there are six million in this country, suffer from ill health as a consequence of being carers. So the burden is enormous. That's the kind of negative side of it. But of course carers care for somebody they love and they do that because they love that person. The biggest burden I suppose is the - up until now - a lack of recognition of what they're doing. 听 WAITE So this new initiative, which is launching tomorrow, how will this make life a little better for carers - a little easier? 听 FRANCIS Well it flows from my Carers Equal Opportunities Act, which basically ensures that when carers' needs are assessed their needs as human beings beyond their caring responsibilities are now recognised for the first time. What are their educational or learning, training, leisure or work requirements? So tomorrow we are launching what's called a Carers' and Learning Initiative and it's done by the carers' body - Carers UK - and the adult learners body - NIACE. So basically it's about giving people advice and guidance if they are carers, how they can actually access those learning opportunities. 听 WAITE Well you originally introduced this legislation as a private members bill in memory of your son Sam who had Down's Syndrome and died in 1997 at the age of 16, how did your experience of caring for Sam inspire you to change the law, as you have, for other carers? 听 FRANCIS Well he was a remarkable child and he gave an enormous amount to us. What we have to recognise of course it's enormous pressure not just on one or two individuals - Mair and I, as parents, obviously carried most of the responsibilities but it had an impact on the whole family and the extended family. We obviously at first hand became aware that our lives had changed forever, we were fortunate in having a strong family but also supportive friends and supportive employers. And the very most important thing I think that happened to my wife was that she was encouraged to stay in work. Her first reaction obviously a hundred percent focus on the newborn child was that she would give up work entirely. But we were lucky to have a social worker who encouraged her to work and as a consequence it was a kind of a lifeline really. 听 WAITE Well that was Dr Hywel Francis MP and as I say in tomorrow's Call You and Yours we want to hear your experiences of caring for a family member of friend. What kind of support would make your life better? Would you like to care for someone at home but you feel unable to do so? Or are you a person who is cared for, how has your condition affected your family? You can call now on 0800 044 044 or e-mail via the website at bbc.co.uk/radio4/youandyours but don't forget please leave your telephone number so we can call you back. Back to the Transcripts homepage Back to the You and Yours homepage The 91热爆 is not responsible for external websites

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