Audit of support given to lay carers of the demented elderly by a primary care team

An audit was undertaken to determine how well a primary care team supported lay carers of the demented elderly. The following standards were set: (1) primary care teams should know of the existence of symptomatic demented elderly patients in the community; (2) lay carers should be knowledgeable about dementia; and (3) the resources which the lay carers felt they needed should be supplied unless they were unavailable.

The primary care team knew of the existence of all symptomatic demented elderly patients in the practice but lay carers lacked knowledge about dementia and had unmet needs. Giving lay carers a booklet about dementia and reporting their unmet needs to the primary care team led to improvements in standards 2 and 3. In addition, stress among lay carers was reduced. In spite of a reduction in the number of carers' unmet needs, there was no overall change in the use of available resources following intervention.

It is concluded that structured support is necessary and worthwhile in order to provide effective support for lay carers of the demented elderly in the practice.