The 2021 Census estimated there to be 310,000 unpaid carers in Wales. Females, those aged 55-59 years and those living in areas of highest deprivation were most likely to be providing unpaid care (1).
Unpaid carers are known to have poorer physical and mental health than non-carers (6). A lack of support when required can have a detrimental impact on unpaid carers and those they are caring for (7,8).
Information on the unpaid carer population at a local level is important to inform support for unpaid carers across agencies (3,9,10).
A major difficulty in gathering information to aid in the support of unpaid carers is the initial step of identifying unpaid carers. Several national surveys (e.g. Census, National Survey for Wales) attempt to establish the number of unpaid carers through self-identification. However, there are many reasons why people who provide care for others may not self-identify as a carer
(11,12,13).
Beyond surveys, unpaid carers can also be recorded in routine health and administrative data sources. In Wales, we have already shown that it is possible to determine the population of unpaid carers known to primary care (6). Anyone who provides unpaid care in Wales is entitled to a carers’ assessment from their local authority to assess any need for support. This local authority carers’ assessment data is an unexplored routine data source in the research on unpaid carers.
This offers the unique opportunity to bring together data from different sources to help build a picture of local unpaid carer populations, which is important for the provision of support from the Welsh government, local authorities, health care services, charities, and other avenues of support.
This study aimed to better understand unpaid carers at a local authority level using local authority and primary care data linked to anonymised individual-level, routinely-collected, population-scale electronic health record (EHR) and administrative health care data sources available within the SAIL Databank to provide an overview of the demographics, health and health service use of this population.
(1) Unpaid care by age, sex and deprivation, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics [Internet]. [cited 2023 Aug 17]. Available from: ons.gov.uk
(3) Strategy for unpaid carers: delivery plan 2021 [HTML] | GOV.WALES [Internet]. [cited 2023 Sep 5]. Available from: gov.wales
(6) Huang F, Song J, Davies AR, Anderson C, Bentley L, Carter B, et al. Unpaid carers in Wales: The creation of an e-cohort to understand long-term health conditions amongst unpaid carers in Wales Suggested Citation Acknowledgements. 2021 [cited 2022 Sep 1]; Available from: nationalarchives.gov.uk
(7) Care S, Committee S. Welsh Parliament Health, Social Care and Sport Committee Inquiry into the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak, and its management, on health and social care in Wales: Report 3-Impact on the social care sector and unpaid carers. 2021 [cited 2023 Aug 17]; Available from: senedd.wales
(8) Carers UK. Caring behind closed doors: six months on CARING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS: SIX MONTHS ON Contents. Carers UK. 2020; carers.uk.org
(9) Understanding unpaid carers and their access to support - The Health Foundation [Internet]. [cited 2023 Sep 5]. Available from: health.org.uk
(10) Overview of the Social services and well-being… | Social Care Wales [Internet]. [cited 2023 Sep 5]. Available from: socialcare.wales
(11) Carers Trust Wales. EXPERIENCES OF UNPAID CARERS FROM BLACK AND MINORITY ETHNIC COMMUNITIES REPORT. 2022; carers.org
(12) Identification of Carers in GP Practices - Resources - Carers Trust [Internet]. [cited 2023 Sep 5]. Available from: carers.org
(13) Carers Week. I care Carers Week report on unpaid carer identification. 2023; carersweek.org