Join our campaigns group to help improve the long waiting lists for a carer in Surrey

We spoke with Attia our Outreach Officer about care services and what she has observed from speaking with Coalition members and the local community.

Attia’s role involves talking to the community about The Coalition, signing up new members and speaking to people in the local area. Attia joined The Coalition two years ago and over this time she has noticed that one topic of conversation that keeps reappearing is the long waiting list for a carer in Surrey.

Attia has noticed when speaking with members that they’re often waiting for long periods of time for a carer and are struggling to find any available in the local area. Attia has also had conversations with un-paid carers, such as a family member, a partner or parents of a Disabled person about how it can be very physically demanding and there is a need for more help from paid carers. However, the waiting list for a paid carer is too long, leaving people stressed and struggling to manage.

We spoke with Sophie, who has experience of support from Personal Assistants (PA) for day-to-day tasks and is a wheelchair user. She spoke with us about the importance of finding the right carer to suit an individual’s different circumstances. Sophie mentioned that it is important that there’s flexibility to suit your day-to-day commitments and routine, such as work and fitting around the client’s individual needs.

Sophie pointed out that the shortage of carers has been an issue for years. She finds the process to recruit a PA very frustrating and long. Resulting in people not having the day-to-day care that they require. Sophie said the following: ‘We need help to live our lives!’.

She also mentioned that more needs to be done to help the care system and factors that could help are better hours and increased pay for carers.

When Attia spoke with care providers they mentioned that they’re lots of carer vacancies available, but they are struggling to fill the positions. This issue seems to have been particularly impacted by Covid-19.

To improve this matter The Coalition are discussing it at our campaigns group to hopefully help to reduce the long waiting times in Surrey. We will be updating our website soon with more information on joining the campaigns group and meeting dates.

Action for Carers work across Surrey to help unpaid carers by providing information and advice. They also offer a wide range of support, including their Action for Carers helpline and their drop in advice and support Hubs located throughout Surrey. You can find out more information about the support available on their website: Action for Carers | Supporting carers of all ages across Surrey