Building carer
friendly communities
across the NHS
What does this mean?
Building a carer friendly community across the NHS means that the health service identifies and recognises the crucial role of unpaid carers, treats them as partners in care, whilst also promoting and protecting their health and wellbeing.
It means unpaid carers are visible throughout the NHS — embedded in strategy, recognised in policy, and acknowledged in every interaction.
Every part of the NHS has a role to play in supporting unpaid carers and everyone can make a difference.
Why is it important?
- Carers’ support is worth £184 billion a year – the equivalent of a second NHS. [1] The NHS relies heavily on unpaid carers to provide care, but does not always provide the support they need:
- Carers’ health and wellbeing is worse than non-carers. [2]
- Carers also have poorer mental health than non-carers. [3]
- One in eight carers providing substantial levels of care provides over 40 hours per month in NHS-related admin support. [4]
- Young carers aged 16-24 are more likely to have mental and physical health needs than young people without caring responsibilities (60% vs 44%). [5]
How?
There are many ways in which the NHS can make a difference to unpaid carers – to support better outcomes for them and the patient, as well as protecting their health, wellbeing and futures. This includes:
- Strategic planning which recognises carers in their own right, including young carers and includes specific measures to support them.
- Delivering or commissioning the right services which support unpaid carers of all ages.
- Identifying unpaid carers as early as possible and putting in specific support in place – from information and advice to tailored support.
- Upholding and promoting the rights and entitlements of carers of all ages, including young carers.
- All healthcare professionals ‘think carer’ as a default.
Resources
The Carers Partnership has developed a resource for health and social care professionals covering many different practice areas to support unpaid carers. Find out more here.
References
- Petrillo, M., Zhang, J., and Bennett, M.R. (2024) Valuing Carers 2021/2022: the value of unpaid care in the UK. London: Carers UK.
- ONS (2024) Unpaid care expectancy and health outcomes of unpaid carers
- Carers UK (2025) State of Caring: The impact of caring on carers’ mental health and the need for support from social care services
- Carers UK (2025) A fresh new approach to supporting unpaid carers: Our vision for delivering the NHS 10 Year Health Plan in England
- Carers UK analysis of GP Patient Survey (2025)
Find out about building carer friendly communities in: