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to as a terminal illness. Palliative care Palliative care is the treatment, care, and support for people with a life-limiting illness and their families and carers. Any treatment for the person you care for at this stage will be to manage their symptoms to ensure they have the best quality of life and to live as well as possible in the time left. It will concentrate on identifying their needs, preferences, and wishes and will include support to you and other family members, both practical and emotional. Palliative care can be provided at any stage of such life-limiting illness but it does… and pain-free as possible and involves managing often complex physical symptoms. It also ensures you, as their unpaid carer, get the emotional support that you need. End of life care also involves talking about what to expect towards the end of life: talking about what is important to the person…

. As long as your life is affected in some way by your caring role you are entitled to an assessment. If there are other people in your family providing support to the same person they too may benefit from a carer’s assessment. A carer’s assessment isn’t rationed to one per cared for person. If you… with you, exploring how caring is impacting on you, what your own needs are, and seeing if you are eligible for any help and support. You can ask to have a separate assessment or you can combine your assessment with the social care need’s assessment of the person you care for. It’s up to you…? If the answer is yes to these questions you are likely to be eligible for help and support. If the assessor decides you do have eligible needs then Surrey County Council is legally obliged to meet those needs and must draw up a support plan for you showing how those needs will be met. This may…

the home pressures you are under and may even be able to help you access some support for example in-house counselling service. Some employers even have a carer’s policy or a carer support group to support staff in the workplace. Talk to your manager or to someone in HR to see what is in place for carers. Think about talking to work colleagues about your caring situation as they too can provide support. You may well find that other colleagues are carers and it gives you someone to talk to. Think carefully before giving up your job if you feel you cannot manage your time. Talk to your…

If you are caring for a person with a terminal illness, it can be difficult to find time to think about your own health needs. However, by ignoring your own health needs you may become unwell yourself and be unable to provide the care and support that you want to. If feeling stressed you may… your blood pressure, weight, and urine as well as a general discussion about your health. Your pharmacist can also help. If registered as a carer, the practice can try to be more flexible in terms of finding your appointments as well as referring you for further support using the Surrey carer’s prescription scheme . You may also be able to access a one- off GP carer’s break payment to support your own health needs, for example, to fund an exercise class. Ask your surgery for a registration form or download a form. Be mindful that you will be vulnerable to injury, particularly when you…

in the family, particularly any siblings? How can I make sure my child and family have as normal a life as possible? How can I cope physically and emotionally? A diagnosis should have been given to you via a face to face meeting in privacy and with someone there to support you. You should have been… to understand. Ask for an interpreter if necessary. Ask for information about support groups and available emotional support for yourself and your family in your local area. Consider who and how you are going to tell others outside the immediate family, for example school, wider family and friends. How…

to contact them and making sure relevant professionals know how to contact you How to look after yourself and your family through the provision of emotional support, spiritual and cultural support, transport, training and very importantly short breaks. Things to think about Make sure an appropriate… within the first 3 days of discharge. Make sure other children in your family are not forgotten. They will also need lots of support to understand what is going on at such a difficult time. …