The full report can be found here: https://www.carersuk.org/wales/news-campaigns/state-of-caring-in-wales

Gridlock in hospitals, lengthy NHS waiting times and a complete lack of social care has intensified the responsibilities and pressures being placed on unpaid carers. Add in the biting cost-of-living crisis and the vital, and much over relied on, service unpaid carers give Wales is close to collapse. Carers Wales believe, it is now at the point, where these pressures are having an irreversible and devastating impact on unpaid carers’ mental and physical health. Their lives will be forever impacted by the trauma of this experience.

Here are some key stats from the report:

• A quarter of carers (26%) said they were cutting back on essentials such as food or heating
• Over three-quarters (87%) said that the rising cost of living is one of the main challenges they will face over the coming year.
• Nearly three-quarters (72%) said they were ‘extremely’ worried about managing their monthly costs.
• 74% of carers said the increase in cost of living was having a negative impact on their mental and/or physical health
• Half of carers (48%) felt that NHS staff did not provide them with the information, advice and support they needed to care well and safely, putting their own health and wellbeing at risk.
• A fifth (20%) of carers who had requested a GP appointment said they had had to wait over a month for this
• Two in five (41%) of carers who were waiting for specialist medical treatment or assessment had been waiting for over a year
• Nearly a quarter said their physical health was bad or very bad (24%)
• 34% said their mental health was bad or very bad
• Nearly a third of carers (32%) said they felt lonely often or always
• Over a third of carers (40%) said they did not know what services were available
• 57% said they were uncertain about what practical support they might be able to access in the next 12 months
• Half of all carers (52%) took over a year to recognise their caring role, with over a third (39%) taking over three years to recognise themselves as a carer
• 77% of unpaid carers in employment worry about continuing to juggle working and caring.