Charities offer unpaid Wiltshire carers free training (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Charities offer unpaid Wiltshire carers free training

3:19pm Wednesday 31st October 2012 in News By Staff reporter

Unpaid carers will be offered free training to help them learn new skills for the role.

The carers will learn basic first aid and receive advice on dealing with dementia and caring for someone suffering from hearing loss.

The scheme from Carer Support Wiltshire will operate across the county.

It is part of a multi-agency network which aims to deliver training to people caring for family members and friends and is funded by Wiltshire Council and NHS Wiltshire.

Lorna Waller, carer training co-ordinator at Carer Support Wiltshire, said: "We hope that these free training opportunities will give unpaid carers the chance to develop new skills as well as to encourage personal development.

"Caring can be very demanding and we want to empower people to feel equipped with the skills that could make caring for someone that little bit easier."

The courses feature training hosted by organisations including Dorothy House, British Red Cross, Wiltshire Blind Association and Relate.

Stephany Bardzil, from Alzheimer's Support, one of the organisations in the training network, said: "We have been running training courses for carers for several years now, but working with the network will enable us to spread our message more widely and enable more carers to have access to a wider range of training."

Each course has been grouped into one of three sections: for people new to their caring role, caring for people with specific conditions, and courses for people who are no longer caring, including bereaved carers, to give them the chance to gain qualifications which could help them back into work.

The 2001 census revealed there were 39,886 carers who provide unpaid care in Wiltshire.

To access the training, visit www.carersinwiltshire.co.uk or call 0800 1814118.