CARERS IN THE 21ST CENTURY: DEVELOPING THE EVIDENCE BASE

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This innovative and original seminar series will contribute to improved quality of life and health and wellbeing for those in our society who give so much to those who need care and without whom, the delivery of health and social care might not be sustained. This group of people are CARERS. The body of research about carers and caring issues that has burgeoned since the emergence of the concept of the 'carer' in the 1980s has played a key role in the growing awareness of carers' needs and contributed to policy initiatives developed to improve their quality of life and health and wellbeing and that of those they support. However, carers face new challenges in the 21st century which have yet to be addressed. Examples of these are changes in carers' profiles, changing demographics and changing family structures resulting in multiple/inter-generational caring as well as the increasing timescale of caring because of medical advances. In addition, policy initiatives such as personalisation and those which mean carers have responsibility for managing a greater range of health conditions at home will impact significantly on the experience of caring. Such changes and policies will reshape the nature of the 'care' that carers will have to deliver.In order to ensure that the improvements to carers quality of life and health and wellbeing continue at this point in time there is a need for a better understanding of these challenges for carers and a coherent evidence base about policy, services and interventions within health and social care that can improve carers quality of life and those they support. The proposed seminar series has been developed by a team of multi institutional researchers and research participants engaged in carers research through a process of extensive consultation with key stakeholders. These stakeholders include service users, carers, leading academic researchers, and representatives from the third sector, local authorities, the Department of Health and the Standing Commission on Carers. It aims to provide a forum for around 30 participants in which the gaps in existing knowledge can be rigorously evaluated, and both the future agenda for carers research and the modus operandi required for its success and lasting impact can be established. Although the focus will mainly be on the UK, the seminars will include international contributors in order to maximise the opportunity provided by the seminar series to gain new perspectives and understandings about carers and caring issues within this country.There will be four seminars in key locations with the following themes: Carers and policy in the 21st Century, Policy in practice, Recognising different needs and Effective support for carers. Presenters have been secured, session titles agreed and a draft programme has been put together. Those who have agreed to contribute are drawn from a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines; they include leading academic researchers, early career researchers, carers, service users, voluntary organisations, representatives from government departments such as the Department of Health and Department for Work and Pensions, and postgraduate students. Contributors will also co-present with carers and PhD students who have participated in their research. The creative approach embodied in this proposal to securing positive outcomes for those who will have to deal with the demands of caring in the 21st century has been widely endorsed. The establishment of a 'carers research network' in particular has been commended as timely in progressing the carers research agenda. Furthermore, this seminar series is aligned with current and future policy trends such as the Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention agenda (QIPP), the Carers Strategy (Department of Health, 2010), the Dilnot Commission Report (Commission on Funding of Care and Support, 2011) and NICE (2011) guidelines on patient & public involvement.