The health and emotional wellbeing of thousands of carers on the Isle of Wight is to be highlighted as National Carers Week begins 9th - 15th June 2008. 

The Isle of Wight Council is supporting this year’s National Carers Week, along with the ten leading charities who support the UK’s six million carers.

The fourteenth annual National Carers Week will highlight the impact caring can have on carers’ health and wellbeing. 2,000 carers have already contributed to National Carers Week by taking part in the annual survey, now well-established as the largest annual survey of carers experiences and opinions.

The results, when published at the start of this week, will report on those experiences; the rewards and the frustrations, and the effect on the health implications for carers, as well as those they care for?

To celebrate this week on the Isle of Wight, an event is being held at Newport’s Riverside Centre on 11th June.

At the Riverside event, the results of a survey undertaken by the Isle of Wight branch of Carers UK, which was distributed across the Island by the council’s One Island Magazine, will be shared.  The purpose of the survey was to find how many people on the Island are looking after someone and are unpaid.

The results of the survey will be used in finalising Isle of Wight Council’s Carers Strategy which will be published later this year. This document will set out the council’s vision on how to plan and improve services in future.

The Riverside Centre event, has been organised by the Island’s branch of Carers UK, there will also be an informal discussion on this year’s Carers Week theme, titled “Carers can’t afford to be ill”.

Free lunch and refreshments will also be provided.

Councillor Dawn Cousins, Isle of Wight Council cabinet member for Health and Wellbeing said:

“Carers on the Isle of Wight do many thousands of hours of unpaid work to help look after friends or relatives who cannot take care of themselves.

The council and the local branch of Carers UK recognise the huge contribution made by carers across the Island and is drawing up plans based on what they told us in the survey so our services can reflect their needs”

Local partners for the Isle of Wight
Age Concern Isle Of Wight
Glenise Appel 
14 Pyle Street, Newport, Isle Of Wight  PO30 1JW
01983 525 282  - glenise.appel@aciw.org.uk

Isle Of Wight Branch
Frances Wright 
Carers Office, Riverside Centre, The Quay, Newport  PO30 2QR
01983 533 173
National Carers Week takes place between 9th - 15th June and is organised by ten leading charities who support the UKs six million carers. Click HERE:

Isle of Wight Community Information @Island Pulse.