On the occasion of caregivers’ day this Thursday, the government announced that it wanted to find more solutions to offer respite to those people who support an elderly, sick or disabled loved one.
In a press release, the Ministry of Solidarity indicated that it wanted both to “strengthen the territorial network” and to develop different types of solutions to “facilitate” the daily life of carers and “avoid” their isolation. This involves, for example, setting up relays with the person being helped at home. The government also intends to initiate work on “the definition of caregivers in the social action and family code, to better include caregivers of people with disabilities and caregivers of sick people”.
A new “multi-annual national strategy for caregivers” in 2023
These two projects are part of a new “multi-annual national strategy for carers”, which will start in 2023 but remains “in the continuity of the previous one”, according to Jean-Christophe Combe, the Minister of Solidarity, quoted in the press release.
In 2019, the government launched an initial mobilization and support strategy for caregivers, for the period 2020-2022. During this period, it notably rolled out a “respite offer” with the creation of 252 reception centers and created paid leave for caregivers. It is estimated that 8 to 11 million people in France regularly help a loved one with a loss of autonomy, with a disability or who is ill.