Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he (a) has taken and (b) plans to take to help ensure that carers register as carers with their GPs.

The NHS Long Term Plan set out an intention to improve the identification, recognition and support for carers. NHS England and the Care Quality Commission have published and are promoting ‘Supporting carers in general practice: a framework of quality markers’. This is a best practice framework which aims to increase the identification and support of carers in general practitioner practices and demonstrate how effective they are in recognising and supporting carers.

Most recently, many unpaid carers were identified through the COVID-19 vaccine programme.