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Carers of patients with a life limiting illness will often put their needs second to those for whom they are caring, but we know from experience that the needs of carers are often great and complex. Rapid and sometimes daily changes in a patient's condition, together with the emotional and relationship changes that this brings, are hard to come to terms with and manage.

Organisation: Age UK Leeds A summary report detailing the findings of our research and experience in building a pilot study to look into providing support for older carers in Leeds who care for any reason. This report details the progress of the development of this service and will illustrate the foundations laid to date in setting up referral protocols and procedures with statutory and third party sectors to identify carers and support them in their role.

This report is based on a pilot project that looks at changing the way we assess substance misusers at the point of presentation to treatment services. The project seeks to identify hidden adult carers (including kinship carers) and route them into specialist support services and statutory carers' assessments where indicated.

Over three months we piloted the first ever national Carers' Information and Support Programme for carers of people with dementia prior to rolling it out nationally. At three locations, trained facilitators delivered four pilot modules designed in conjunction with carers, providing them with quality information about dementia, practical advice on day to day caring, and signposting carers to local services and financial benefits.

Organisation: Home-Start WestminsterTo reach out to family members who have taken on a caring role, Home-Start Westminster has developed a framework for training and supervising volunteers to support carers in families with young children for two hours a week, in their homes or within the local community. Volunteers have provided significant emotional support as well as linking carers in families up with services, information and practical advice on how they can best manage their caring role while ensuring their own well-being.

The British Lung Foundation (BLF) is the only UK-wide charity solely dedicated to working for everyone affected by any lung disease. Established in 1984 by a group of leading respiratory physicians, the charity works towards positive change in lung health.

Evaluation report for the Reaching out to Carers Innovation FundIn partnership with CNCA?s 30 associated organisations, which provide services to older people (over 50?s) and adults with disabilities, CNCA?s trustees decided that they had been supporting carers through its partner services since its inception, but it had never been recognised for the work it does with carers. Therefore we developed a project where volunteers and staff were trained to identify carers (currently 29,426 in Croydon) of the service users, when their needs are still low and therefore not in receipt of local authority services.

Programme to Identify and Engage Young Carers, the project has adopted a multiple approach to maximise the opportunity of reaching and engaging young new carers.

The service is a partnership between Age UK Tameside, Tameside MBC Carers Centre and Alzheimers Society. Hosted by Age UK Tameside, it aims to provide:Borough-wide awareness raising campaign around getting support before crisis point Weekly drop in sessions for those with dementia and their carers Information hub with multi-agency input, guest speakers, use of digital technology/internet including Syndication with Carers Direct Early screening and referral to Tameside and Glossop Memory Clinic Support to approach GPs for diagnosis Assessment of social, emotional, financial employment, physical/mental health and environmental needs, and appropriate signposting Group sessions Volunteer led Befriending Services for carers Use of assisted technology Specialist advocacy services .

Development of the support that The Dystonia Society provides for people who care for individuals living with dystonia - a debilitating neurological movement disorder. The project aimed to: Help people who provide care identify themselves as Carers Ensure that the personal welfare and needs of carers is considered Support carers in their caring role through provision of information and direct support This project involved the development of Helpline support, signposting of services and the production of new resources specifically for carers.