Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that unpaid carers, particularly those living in rural communities, receive timely access to NHS treatment.

The Government’s Unpaid Carers Action Plan, published in July, sets out the action we are taking to improve access to National Health Service and other support for unpaid carers, including the ‘MyCarer’ section within the NHS App. The needs of unpaid carers will also be at the heart of our reforms to social care, on which the independent commission chaired by Baroness Casey will make recommendations when it publishes its final report next year.