Carers: Coronavirus
(asked on 23rd March 2020) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans he has to make Personal Protective Equipment available to (a) family carers and (b) carers of people who self-fund their social care when looking after someone who is self-isolating due to covid-19.
On 8 April 2020, the government published guidance for unpaid carers, which includes general advice, links to other information and support, and advice on caring where someone has symptoms. This can be found at the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-providing-unpaid-care
We have also been working with Carers UK to provide carers with practical advice which can be found at the following link:
https://www.carersuk.org/help-and-advice/health/looking-after-your-health/coronavirus-covid-19
Many carers of individuals who self-fund will receive additional PPE that is in the process of being delivered to all Care Quality Commission Registered Providers. For carers that may not receive this, such as Personal Assistants, they can approach the relevant local authority for adult social care, or clinical commissioning groups that provide the direct payment and ask for advice.
Guidance on the use of PPE in care settings can be found at the following link: