Dementia Care and Impacts on Unpaid Caregivers

We set out to understand the experiences of unpaid caregivers for people with dementia. This included:

• The impacts of caring on their own life.
• What support services they were aware of.
• Accessing those support services. 

We spoke to fifteen unpaid caregivers living in different parts of Gateshead. We gathered information from them through interviews done in person, by phone and online. 

Most were older women caring for a relative in the middle stages of dementia. None had received formal training for dementia care, and many felt unprepared. Caring affected every part of their lives, including their physical and mental health, social relationships, money, and ability to work.

They told us they often felt overlooked and unsupported. For many of them support services were often too expensive or difficult to access. Most struggled to get regular respite, reliable care packages and dementia-friendly social activities.

We found that unpaid caregivers need to be given better information, specialist training in dementia care, easier access to support and should have more awareness and information around respite care support available to them. In addition, financial help and a stronger community network would be beneficial to them.