Thanks to all our members for taking part in the research and to Jean Tottie Chair, Ruth Eley Vice-Chair and Anna Gaughan, Chief Executive who co-authored the first COVID 19 research paper on the impact on carers of people with dementia. For the research, Dr Clarissa Giebel, Liverpool University spoke to unpaid carers of people living with dementia and asked them about their experiences of receiving social support services throughout the pandemic. These were the main findings:

1. Theme 1: risk - Virus transmission and lack of personal protective equipment. Many unpaid carers reported feeling fearful of paid carers entering their homes and transmitting the coronavirus
2. Theme 2: making difficult choices and risk management - many carers were faced with making difficult decisions in terms of cancelling their paid care support during the time of COVID-19.
3. Theme 3: implications for unpaid carers - Many unpaid carers decided to discontinue paid carers entering the home due to the risk of infection, resulting in unpaid carers having to pick up the care hours to support the person living with dementia.

You can read the study here: Decision-making for receiving paid home care for dementia in the time of COVID-19: a qualitative study

Since the COVID19 pandemic, many family carers were too afraid to let paid carers into the home to care for their relative with dementia

Read on an opinion piece by Dr Clarissa Giebel here Facing up to the dementia home care dilemma of Covid-19