Al-Janabi et al. Editorials: The need to “carer proof” healthcare decisions. BMJ 2016;352:i165.
Excerpts:
..... fiscal austerity are set to increase the reliance on family carers, who already provide much of the support for people with long term health conditions.....
...... Although most carers are willing, providing care can be hugely stressful, affecting mental and physical health and resulting in social isolation and financial hardship......
...... When under strain, carers are less likely to be effective, increasing the risk that the care recipient is admitted to hospital or a care home. Health systems could reduce strain on family carers by routinely considering carers’ needs alongside patients’ needs in everyday healthcare decisions—a concept we term “carer proofing.”.......
..... At the policy level, how care is organised for people with long term conditions can profoundly affect the lives of carers. The notion of integrated health and care services, for example, holds the hope of reducing the stress that carers experience from lack of joined up care. On the other hand, integrated services might be concentrated on fewer but larger sites, resulting in greater travelling time and less personal service for already stressed family carers.......
....... At the clinical level, guidelines often recommend involving carers in care decisions, where possible. Nonetheless, carers may get squeezed out because of lack of patient consent or busy clinical schedules. If the clinical decision affects the carer, this ought to be taken into account in order to ensure good adherence to the treatment plan. Carer proofing is likely to be particularly valuable at times of change, such as around diagnosis or when someone takes an active caring role......
...... Enhanced carer proofing could complement existing interventions to support carers, such as respite care, carer support groups, and individual education and training. One problem with existing forms of carer support is that the interventions often come too late, with carer stress treated as an inevitable side effect of the patient’s condition. To support carers better, carer outcomes should be considered in healthcare decisions for long term conditions from the outset......
..... Carer proofing challenges researchers to provide better evidence of the effectiveness and efficiency of interventions from the perspective of all those affected. It also challenges care professionals and policy makers to focus their thinking on how the well-being of the patient-carer dyad could be optimised. There is both a moral and a practical imperative to consider carers in healthcare decisions given the vital role they have in supporting the health system......