Supporting the Royal College of General Practitioners to develop the Caring for Carers Hubs, an online resource which provides information about living well as a carer alongside local information about services, support groups and resources to assist primary care to more effectively support carers and the people they care for.

Each local Caring for Carers Hub

• presents local information about services and resources alongside nationally relevant information about living well as a carer
• is a signposting tool to assist primary care staff to support carers more effectively
• can be managed by staff within local health and social care organisations, such as Clinical Commissioning Groups
• can be accessed directly from within General Practice Patient Management Systems.

Each local Caring for Carers Hub will deliver a range of benefits to the GPs, primary health and social care professionals and third sector groups that use them.

• Introduce questions to identify hidden carers in scheduled visits and routine health checks and investigations for people identified as potentially at risk
• Assess and identify carers signposting them to relevant resources or services
• Promote positive messages about living as a carer
• Provide support for carers to maintain their health and wellbeing and provide opportunities for respite for the person they care for, helping to prevent unnecessary admission to hospital for carers in crisis
• Support carers more efficiently, thereby reducing multiple / repeat appointments
• Refer carers onto specialist services where appropriate
• Keep accurate records, coding carers who present appropriately
• Use case finding approaches with colleagues to identify hidden carers on the practice register