§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how he will inform health care service providers of the developing policies towards carers outlined in the national strategy for carers. [78553]
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§ Mr. HuttonA copy of the national strategy, "Caring about Carers", was sent to chief executives of health authorities and national health service trusts on 8 February. The Chief Executive of the National Health Service Executive wrote to all chief executives personally on 11 March emphasising his commitment to implementation of the national strategy. Further information will be sent directly to all doctors in England by the Chief Medical Officer. The Department is also working closely with organisations representing general practitioners, nurses and managers in general practice on publicising the national strategy to primary care teams. Further opportunities for informing the national health service about supporting carers will be taken as they arise, and in the context of a wide range of initiatives under way in my Department.
§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will discuss with ministerial colleagues methods of establishing a one-stop shop advice service for carers. [78554]
§ Mr. HuttonThe issue of how best to provide information and advice for carers was fully discussed in the course of developing our national carers' strategy. We will be working to provide carers with improved information in a range of different ways-through helplines, including NHS Direct, through an improved network of local support services and carers' centres, and through information technology. Carers' centres and carer support services already provide information and advice on a wide range of issues. We will help them to do this better, such as by providing information on our policies and services on the internet. We also intend to help the staff of all services that support carers to become knowledgeable about the issues which concern them and about other local services which can help them.
§ Mr. KidneyTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what action he intends to take to ensure that primary health care providers are able to(a) identify and (b) provide services to carers. [78552]
§ Mr. HuttonThe national priorities guidance for the health and social services for 1999–2000 requires primary care teams to identify patients who are carers or who have carers. We are working with a number of organisations, including the medical and nursing royal colleges, on ways of ensuring that primary care teams support carers, in particular by helping them to maintain their own health and by providing them with information about other services in their area.