Carer support

The Carer Support Program is here to support you.

Contact details

You can get in touch with us by calling Clinical Governance 9845 3442 or emailing the Clinical Governance Unit.

CHW Carer Support Officer 9845 3590 or email SCHN-CarerSupport@health.nsw.gov.au.

CHW Parent and Carer Resource Centre 9845 0580.

Who is a carer?

A carer is anyone who provides ongoing long term help to someone who needs it because of disability, chronic illness, mental illness, frail age or dementia. Parents who are carers provide additional support for their children that other children the same age don’t need.

A child's carer is often their parents but could be grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings or foster carers.

Carers are not paid for the care they provide except in some cases, where government allowances or pensions are available

Staff members may have caring responsibilities as well as their working role.

Carers come from all walks of life and cultural backgrounds. Being a carer is not limited by age, gender, sexual preference or economic status. Anyone can be or become a carer.

There are many people who do not think of themselves as carers, or who object to the use of the term applying to them. They think of themselves as parents, a partner or a friend caring for the person they love. This is a perfectly natural response. Allowing yourself to be called a ‘carer’ or not is a choice everyone has the right to make and this should be respected.

What do Carers do?

Every caring experience is unique and the range of responsibilities can cover administering medications, bathing, dressing, toileting, advocating, providing social and emotional support, nursing, cleaning, supervising, lifting transporting children to and from appointments, coordinating community services, teaching them life skills and trying to provide social contact with other children.

What a carer does during the day depends a lot on the needs of the person with the illness or disability. For parents who are carers, the needs of the rest of their family have to be met in addition to the needs of the child who is receiving their additional care.

While the activities of caring vary with every person's situation, we do know that invariably carers have other roles to fulfil in their daily lives. Parents as carers are always ‘on-call’ as mother, father, carer, parent, friend and partner. Many parents are also employees and continue to have work-related responsibilities in addition to their caring role. Most importantly carers also have themselves to look after, and unfortunately, not only is this one of the most difficult things for carers to do, it is also the most vital. A carer’s good health and wellbeing allows them to explore options. It also enables them to lead more fulfilling and happy lives.

What are some of the issues carers face?

Carers can experience challenges in emotional, financial, social and wellbeing areas of life due to their caring responsibilities. For more detail please read Carers NSW Fact Sheet Impact of Caring 

At the Sydney Children Hospitals Network, we understand the challenges our parents and carers face in practising self- care.  To assist you we have developed carer support initiatives at the Children’s Hospital at Westmead and Sydney Children’s Hospital Randwick to help take some time, just for you.  Please find more information regarding these programs below.

Young carers

Get Healthy NSW

This is a free service provided by NSW Health.

The website provides information on healthy diet and exercise and anyone can access personal telephone health coaching to identify your health goals and encourage you to keep on track. 

NSW Health provides a free telephone coaching service. This confidential service provides expert advice and motivation to help you find a healthier, happier you.

Interested?

Access the program today.

Walking with Carers

  • Their rights within NSW Health care system
  • The location of acute and community health services
  • Information on the availability of payments and allowances
  • Contact details for Commonwealth Respite and Carelink centres
  • Tip for working carers, young carers and Aboriginal carers
  • Information and tips for carers on looking after themselves

More resources