Imperial Medical Practice in Exmouth has been running a Self Care course for patients since 2008.  It’s a six week course and runs for 1½ hrs each week.
One course was specifically for Carers, 15 invitations were sent out, 11 carers attended and completed the course along with one ex-carer who was able to give advice and personal reflections on being a Carer.
The aim of the course was to help patients feel more confident about managing their health care, particularly minor health problems and short term conditions.  More importantly with the carers course we wanted to target the isolation that carers can feel by showing that they weren't alone and could have a chat and speak to others who were also carers

    • signpost carers to Carers Link and other supporting organisations
    • make carers realise that they are just as important as the person they care for and the importance of looking after their own health.

The main benefit of the course was the interaction with other Carers.
As an example of how this interaction was beneficial we had one carer called Jean who was 79 years old looking after her 85 year old friend. She had felt recently that she could no longer cope and was having frequent chats with me about how guilty she felt because she was considering putting her friend into a home. Her friend was having frequent falls and bouts of incontinence which Joan was finding it increasingly difficult to cope with.
Jean attended the Self Care course and met someone who recently had to put her mother-in-law in a residential home. She was able to not only make a new friend but learn from the experience of this ex-Carer who told her about the process you have to go through when finding a care home.
Her new friend was also able to recommend a local home which Joan rang to see if she could go and have a look round. Her friend is now very happily in that care home.
Jean is sad that she is unable to care for her friend at home but she is well looked after and Jean is feeling happier about the whole situation.
John, another male Carer who attended the course said it made him realise that he wasn’t alone. He had felt quite insular coping with his wife who has progressive Multiple Sclerosis but not only had he made some friends but also had benefited from the content of the course regarding nutrition, exercise and looking after himself.
The course had made him realise that he needed to look after his own health as well as his partners.