Create an emergency plan so you and others are aware what to do in an emergency
Download and read the Bridgit Carer Information Pack
Enquire and complete a Carer Assessment with your Local Authority or Local Carers Service regarding support you need as a carer.
Find out about Carer’s Allowance and other benefits
Register with your GP as a carer, you will have access to health checks and free flu jabs
Speak to your local carer centre for support available
If you provide assistance to or care for another person then as a carer, there are certain things you should do or you should know.
Here are our top tips for all carers, existing and new.
Complete a Carers Assessment (for you) and a Needs Assessment for the one you care for (If you haven’t done so already). It may help to identify the support you and your family require. This can be completed via your Local Authority or your local carers centre.
Find out more about your local carers centre. They have a wide range of support, advice, classes and activities to help you as a carer.
Every year millions of pounds of carers' benefits go unclaimed in the UK. Use a benefits checker such as Turn2Us to see what benefits support you may be entitled to. There are carer specific benefits available such as as Carers Allowance or Carers Credit.
Look into some of the great carer technology which can make caring easier
Juggling work and care can be tricky, as a carer you have employment rights and more employers are recognising the importance of supporting the people in their workforce with caring responsibilities.
Register yourself as a carer with your GP. You will be entitled to health checks as well as other services.
Email: contact@bridgit.care
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Complete the following actions:
Once a month it's useful to reflect on how you're doing in different areas.
Just select an area of the care circle to update how you're getting on.
Ask Bridgit on WhatsApp 📱 is your go-to for caregiving advice, accessible anytime, anywhere. 🌍
Although it's a not a real person, Bridgit is equipped with the knowledge to support you. 📚
Simply add your phone number, message your queries - from caring for a relative to self-care tips, to get an instant answer. 💡
Are you looking for help in your caring role?
In a short conversation we'll learn a bit about you and the person you're caring for and then create a simple plan with:
📝 Insights into managing the specific condition of the person you're caring for.
🤝 Guidance on accessing and using these services effectively.
🌍 Links to online resources and communities for carers.
Need Help Making Your Home Safe?
Let's talk about how to make your home safer. We'll help you with:
🏠 Tips Just for You: We'll look at pictures of your house and tell you how to make it safer.
🔍 Find People Who Can Help: We'll share details of local services that might be able to help.
🌍 We'll show you where to find easy guides and tips on the internet to keep your home safe.
Your Rights As A Carer
Our Carer Counsellor is here to help you with:
🎯 Identifying carer rights and options that align with your needs
📚 Exploring legal rights.
📝 Creating personalised advice and support for you as a Carer.
Looking for Well-being Support?
In our quick chat, we'll discuss your current engagement in physical activities, stress management practices, and hobbies that uplift you. We'll create a plan featuring:
🏃♂️ Suggestions for physical activities suited to your lifestyle.
🧘♀️ Tips on mindfulness and meditation, tailored to how often you can practice.
🎨 Ideas for hobbies and activities that can boost your mood and well-being.
Thinking About Getting Back to Work?
Let's have a quick chat to understand your current situation and your aspirations for returning to work. We'll create a concise plan that includes:
📈 Advice on balancing caregiving responsibilities with work.
🌐 Information on flexible working options and support for carers in the workplace.
📝 Tips on updating your CV and preparing for interviews.
Balancing Work and Care Responsibilities?
In our brief discussion, we'll explore how you can effectively manage both your professional life and caregiving duties. Your personalized plan will include:
⚖️ Strategies for achieving a work-care balance.
📅 Tips on time management and setting priorities.
🤝 Information on workplace rights and support for carers.
Navigating Financial Support & Benefits for Carers?
Join us for a brief chat to delve into the financial aspects of caregiving. We'll help you create a plan encompassing:
💰 Detailed information on benefits and financial support options specifically for carers.
📝 Step-by-step guidance on applying for these benefits.
🛠️ Tools and resources to help manage your finances effectively as a carer.
Considering Taking Time Out as a Carer?
In our short conversation, we'll discuss your need for a break from caregiving. We'll then formulate a plan that includes:
🏖️ Tips on how to plan for time off and respite care options.
🔄 Strategies for ensuring continuity of care during your absence.
🧘♀️ Suggestions for relaxation and rejuvenation activities.
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Frontotemporal dementia is an uncommon type of dementia that causes problems with behaviour and language.
Dementia is the name for problems with mental abilities caused by gradual changes and damage in the brain.
Frontotemporal dementia affects the front and sides of the brain (the frontal and temporal lobes).
Dementia mostly affects people over 65, but frontotemporal dementia tends to start at a younger age. Most cases are diagnosed in people aged 45-65, although it can also affect younger or older people.
Like other types of dementia, frontotemporal dementia tends to develop slowly and get gradually worse over several years.
Signs of frontotemporal dementia can include:
There may also be physical problems, such as slow or stiff movements, loss of bladder or bowel control (usually not until later on), muscle weakness or difficulty swallowing.
These problems can make daily activities increasingly difficult, and the person may eventually be unable to look after themselves.
Read more about the symptoms of frontotemporal dementia.
See a GP if you think you have early symptoms of dementia. If you're worried about someone else, encourage them to make an appointment with a GP and perhaps suggest you go with them.
The GP can do some simple checks to try to find the cause of your symptoms, and they can refer you to a memory clinic or another specialist for further tests if needed.
Read more about getting a dementia diagnosis.
There's no single test for frontotemporal dementia.
The following may be needed to make a diagnosis:
Read more about the tests used to diagnose dementia.
There's currently no cure for frontotemporal dementia or any treatment that will slow it down.
But there are treatments that can help control some of the symptoms, possibly for several years.
Treatments include:
Read more about how frontotemporal dementia is treated.
How quickly frontotemporal dementia gets worse varies from person to person and is very difficult to predict.
People with the condition can become socially isolated as the illness progresses. They may not want to spend time in the company of others, or may behave in rude or insulting ways.
Home-based help will usually be needed at some stage, and some people will eventually need care in a nursing home.
The average survival time after symptoms start is around 8 to 10 years. But this is highly variable and some people live much longer than this.
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with dementia, remember you're not alone. The NHS and social services, as well as voluntary organisations and specialist support groups, can provide advice and support for you and your family.
Frontotemporal dementia is caused by clumps of abnormal protein forming inside brain cells. These are thought to damage the cells and stop them working properly.
The proteins mainly build up in the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain at the front and sides. These are important for controlling language, behaviour, and the ability to plan and organise.
It's not fully understood why this happens, but there's often a genetic link. People who get frontotemporal dementia may have relatives who were also affected by the condition.
If you have a family history of frontotemporal dementia, you may want to consider talking to your doctor about being referred to a geneticist and possibly having a genetic test to see if you're at risk.
There's a lot of research being done to try to improve understanding of the causes of frontotemporal dementia so treatments can be discovered.
If you're interested in helping with research, you can speak to a doctor or register your interest on the Join Dementia Research website.
Doctors sometimes use different names to describe frontotemporal dementia. These include:
Vascular dementia is a common type of dementia caused by reduced blood flow to the brain. It's estimated to affect around 180,000 people in the UK.
Dementia is the name for problems with mental abilities caused by gradual changes and damage in the brain. It's rare in people under 65.
Vascular dementia tends to get worse over time, although it's sometimes possible to slow it down.
Vascular dementia can start suddenly or begin slowly over time.
Symptoms include:
These problems can make daily activities increasingly difficult and someone with the condition may eventually be unable to look after themselves.
See a GP if you think you have early symptoms of dementia, especially if you're over 65 years of age.
If it's found at an early stage, treatment may be able to stop vascular dementia getting worse, or at least slow it down.
If you're worried about someone else, encourage them to make an appointment with a GP and perhaps suggest that you go with them.
Your GP can do some simple checks to try to find the cause of your symptoms. They can refer you to a memory clinic or another specialist for further tests if needed.
Find out more about how to get a dementia diagnosis.
There's no single test for vascular dementia.
The tests that are needed to make a diagnosis include:
Find out more about the tests used to diagnose dementia.
There's currently no cure for vascular dementia and there's no way to reverse any loss of brain cells that happened before the condition was diagnosed.
But treatment can sometimes help slow down vascular dementia.
Treatment aims to tackle the underlying cause, which may reduce the speed at which brain cells are lost.
This will often involve:
Other treatments, including physiotherapy, occupational therapy, dementia activities (such as memory cafes) and psychological therapies, can help reduce the impact of any existing problems.
Vascular dementia will usually get worse over time. This can happen in sudden steps, with periods in between where the symptoms do not change much, but it's difficult to predict when this will happen.
Home-based help will usually be needed, and some people will eventually need care in a nursing home.
Although treatment can help, vascular dementia can significantly shorten life expectancy.
But this is highly variable, and many people live for several years with the condition, or die from some other cause.
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with dementia, remember that you're not alone. The NHS and social services, as well as voluntary organisations, can provide advice and support for you and your family.
Vascular dementia is caused by reduced blood flow to the brain, which damages and eventually kills brain cells.
This can happen as a result of:
In many cases, these problems are linked to underlying conditions, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, and lifestyle factors, such as smoking and being overweight.
Tackling these might reduce your risk of vascular dementia in later life, although it's not yet clear exactly how much your risk of dementia can be reduced.
If you:
Our guide to care and support explains your options and where you can get support.
Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), also known as Lewy body dementia, is one of the most common types of dementia.
Dementia is the name for problems with mental abilities caused by gradual changes and damage in the brain. It's rare in people under 65.
It tends to develop slowly and get gradually worse over several years.
People with dementia with Lewy bodies may have:
These problems can make daily activities increasingly difficult and someone with the condition may eventually be unable to look after themselves.
See a GP if you think you have early symptoms of dementia, especially if you're over 65 years of age.
If you're worried about someone else, encourage them to make an appointment with a GP and perhaps suggest that you go with them.
The GP can do some simple checks to try to find the cause of your symptoms and they can refer you to a memory clinic or another specialist for further tests if needed.
There's no single test for dementia with Lewy bodies.
The following may be needed to make a diagnosis:
There's currently no cure for dementia with Lewy bodies or any treatment that will slow it down.
But there are treatments that can help control some of the symptoms, possibly for several years.
Treatments include:
How quickly dementia with Lewy bodies gets worse varies from person to person.
Home-based help will usually be needed, and some people will eventually need care in a care home.
The average survival time after diagnosis is around 5 to 7 years. But this is highly variable and some people live much longer than this.
If you or a loved one has been diagnosed with dementia, remember that you're not alone. The NHS and social services, as well as voluntary organisations, can provide advice and support for you and your family.
Dementia with Lewy bodies is caused by clumps of protein forming inside brain cells. These abnormal deposits are called Lewy bodies.
These deposits are also found in people with Parkinson's disease, and they build up in areas of the brain responsible for functions such as thinking, visual perception and muscle movement.
It's not clear why the deposits develop and how exactly they damage the brain. It's thought that part of the problem is the proteins affecting the brain's normal functions by interfering with signals sent between brain cells.
Dementia with Lewy bodies usually occurs in people with no family history of the condition, although there have been very rare cases that seem to run in families.
Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia in the UK.
Dementia is the name for a group of symptoms associated with an ongoing decline of brain functioning. It can affect memory, thinking skills and other mental abilities.
The exact cause of Alzheimer's disease is not yet fully understood, although a number of things are thought to increase your risk of developing the condition.
These include:
Read more about the causes of Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease is a progressive condition, which means the symptoms develop gradually over many years and eventually become more severe. It affects multiple brain functions.
The first sign of Alzheimer's disease is usually minor memory problems.
For example, this could be forgetting about recent conversations or events, and forgetting the names of places and objects.
As the condition develops, memory problems become more severe and further symptoms can develop, such as:
Read more about the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease is most common in people over the age of 65.
The risk of Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia increases with age, affecting an estimated 1 in 14 people over the age of 65 and 1 in every 6 people over the age of 80.
But around 1 in every 20 people with Alzheimer's disease are under the age of 65. This is called early- or young-onset Alzheimer's disease.
As the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease progress slowly, it can be difficult to recognise that there's a problem. Many people feel that memory problems are simply a part of getting older.
Also, the disease process itself may (but not always) prevent people recognising changes in their memory. But Alzheimer's disease is not a "normal" part of the ageing process.
An accurate and timely diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease can give you the best chance to prepare and plan for the future, as well as receive any treatment or support that may help.
If you're worried about your memory or think you may have dementia, it's a good idea to see a GP.
If possible, someone who knows you well should be with you as they can help describe any changes or problems they have noticed.
If you're worried about someone else, encourage them to make an appointment and perhaps suggest that you go along with them.
There's no single test that can be used to diagnose Alzheimer's disease. And it's important to remember that memory problems do not necessarily mean you have Alzheimer's disease.
A GP will ask questions about any problems you're experiencing and may do some tests to rule out other conditions.
If Alzheimer's disease is suspected, you may be referred to a specialist service to:
Read more about diagnosing Alzheimer's disease.
There's currently no cure for Alzheimer's disease, but medicines are available that can help relieve some of the symptoms.
Various other types of support are also available to help people with Alzheimer's live as independently as possible, such as making changes to your home environment so it's easier to move around and remember daily tasks.
Psychological treatments such as cognitive stimulation therapy may also be offered to help support your memory, problem solving skills and language ability.
Read more about treating Alzheimer's disease.
People with Alzheimer's disease can live for several years after they start to develop symptoms. But this can vary considerably from person to person.
Alzheimer's disease is a life-limiting illness, although many people diagnosed with the condition will die from another cause.
As Alzheimer's disease is a progressive neurological condition, it can cause problems with swallowing.
This can lead to aspiration (food being inhaled into the lungs), which can cause frequent chest infections.
It's also common for people with Alzheimer's disease to eventually have difficulty eating and have a reduced appetite.
There's increasing awareness that people with Alzheimer's disease need palliative care.
This includes support for families, as well as the person with Alzheimer's.
As the exact cause of Alzheimer's disease is not clear, there's no known way to prevent the condition.
But there are things you can do that may reduce your risk or delay the onset of dementia, such as:
These measures have other health benefits, such as lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease and improving your overall mental health.
Read more about preventing Alzheimer's disease.
There are dozens of dementia research projects going on around the world, many of which are based in the UK.
If you have a diagnosis of dementia or are worried about memory problems, you can help scientists better understand the disease by taking part in research.
If you're a carer for someone with dementia, you can also take part in research.
You can sign up to take part in trials on the NHS Join Dementia Research website.
Dementia can affect all aspects of a person's life, as well as their family's.
If you have been diagnosed with dementia, or you're caring for someone with the condition, remember that advice and support is available to help you live well.
Read more about:
If you:
Our guide to care and support explains your options and where you can get support.
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Our support tool captures data from you in order to create your personal support plan.
Through this tool we capture information such as the areas you'd like support with, medications and conditions you'd like advice with, and your location so we can find local events and services close to you.
By using our tool you are consenting for Bridgit Care (Part of Upstream Outcomes Ltd) to process your information in order to receive your personalised support plan.
We care for carers all over the UK with whatever complex needs they may have. We help carers to find carer support resources within their local communities, as well as nationally or with our organisation.
We care for you, so you can care for them.
This tool is designed to help anyone that has somebody that relies on them. Whether that's a friend, neighbour or family member.
You may not identify as a 'carer' and that's fine. This tool is just here to help you navigate all the advice and guidance that's out there on the internet and connect you to the support you need in your local area.
You can access your report in seconds and start getting support straightaway.
We've built this tool to allow you to add content over time, track progress on how you're doing and also make sure you get targeted information to help.
This hopefully will help you spend less time searching for the support you need, and help free up your time.
Your report contains advice, support and guidance from trusted sources from around the UK. From organisations like the NHS, Age UK and Carers UK. The report is split into sections.
In the 'Support' area we provide you with local events, advice, support and services and ideas to try. You can add to this plan over time and share the areas you're struggling with (called 'Challenges') so that we can make sure the advice we provide is based on your needs.
In the 'Dashboard' you can update how you're doing in the different areas of your caring role and overall life, and track this over time. If supported in your area it also allows you to book in for a personal care coach call with our team, or have a live chat on any areas we can help.
In the 'Health' section you can add conditions or medications that you'd like to keep track off and see advice from the NHS on each area. You can use this to also track the medications and conditions of the person you're caring for.
In the 'Downloads' section we've produced some easy to read and accessible packs for you that you can download and use. Containing advice, templated and things to try. You can even print it out if you find it useful.
In the report you can sign up for regular email supports. You'll receive emails with support on the specific areas you've asked for help with as well as a monthly personalised list of upcoming events that you might like to go to.
If supported in your area you'll see options to book a chat, video or phone call with our team to talk about any areas you'd like support on. We're hear to listen and support you in any way we can.
Family carers around the UK already do so much to support the people they care for which in turn helps to keep our health and social care system running.
As a Social Enterprise Bridgit Care is committed to supporting the family carer community and receive funding for these service from government organisations and grants.
When you reach your report page you'll have the option to provide your email address. If you decide to provide it and submit your address to us, then you'll receive regular support emails from the Bridgit Care team with things like upcoming events, new caring advice or services At anytime if you decide you no longer want to receive support emails you can just click 'Unsubscribe' on any of the support mails.
You can also review our Privacy Policy for further information and please contact us if you have any questions or concerns please on our email contact@bridgit.care.
Within the Privacy Policy you will see specific information that relates to this Online Support tool, including details of the information we capture and how we use this information.
All the information you provide to us is encrypted and stored securely in either or Amazon AWS or Microsoft Azure environments.
We provide you with a share link for your report to send to others. This link is view only so that others can view the content but not make any edits.
This tool is completely safe to use and completely free.
The tool is being provided to you by either your local authority or NHS Trust, depending upon where you live.
All policies and Terms/Conditions are available at the bottom of the tools report for you to read so you can see how your data is protected.
We are sorry to hear you couldn't find the right help.
Our support tool is constantly updating, If there is something that you needed help with and you couldn't find it we would like to hear from you. That way, we can update the tool to help you and other carers.
You can either leave us some feedback (at the top of the tool) or send us an email at contact@bridgit.care
In the meantime, if supported within your region, and you need additional support please book a carer coach session with the Bridgit Care Team to talk through any areas you need help with
Yes, we are here to help. You can either: