There are an estimated 14,800 unpaid carers in Islington. Islington Carers Hub is a free local support service for anyone who lives or cares for another adult in Islington.

They can provide practical advice, help and information on things like carers benefits (financial support), taking breaks, getting emotional support or counselling, and meeting other people in the borough for community and connection.

We met Anna*, who found community through the Carers Hub about a year ago when she retired. Anna has been caring for her now forty-year-old daughter who has had kidney failure since birth. She shared her family’s story, including the challenges of working full time while raising children, managing intensive caring responsibilities, and the benefit of support for carers.

The rollercoaster of the early years

For the first seven years of her daughter’s life, Anna managed her dialysis at home. At seven, her daughter received a second transplant that lasted for seven years. At fifteen, she returned to dialysis.

Anna kept a record of everything, including statistics, creatinine levels and the ups and downs.

“As a carer, you live with the agony, the stress of every single day when it’s your child,” she shared.

“There were other problems along the way, anaemia was often an issue and for a while my daughter would only eat very small amounts.”

Working as the manager of a Mothercare branch in Hackney, Anna would drive back and forth between home in Islington and her job in Hackney to perform her daughter’s dialysis four times each day.

“I would drive home at lunchtime from Hackney, then get back for 6pm to do the third procedure, have dinner, and at midnight, complete the final one,” she said.

“I would use up all my holidays managing the condition and attending hospital visits.”

“Looking back, I wonder how I managed, but as a mother you just step up to what’s needed for the welfare of your children. We just had to take each day as it came.”

Finding support and connections in retirement

Asked how she describes retirement, Anna said, “Heaven! Now I have more time for myself, I am trying different things every day.”

Anna regularly attends Islington Carers Hub events, including Carers for Carers Meet-Up and Strategy Steering Group.

Reflecting on her story, Anna said: “When I was younger, I avoided talking about my caring experience because I didn’t want anyone to feel sorry for me.

“As I’ve grown older, I’ve become more comfortable opening up and I hope others will find it helpful.”

Do any of these themes seem familiar to you?

If you regularly support a family member, partner or friend, you may be an unpaid carer. Islington Carers Hub are here to help.

Over the last four years, nearly 4,000 unpaid carers have registered with our Islington Carers Hub. In this time the Carers Hub have supported:

• Close to 800 unpaid carers to get emotional support and counselling
• More than 1,200 unpaid carers to take breaks from their caring responsibilities, and;
• More than 1,400 unpaid carers to attend education and training opportunities.

They offer a gateway to connect with other carers in Islington and access a range of local support services.

You can also request a formal ‘Carers Assessment’ which all ‘unpaid carers’ are entitled to. A Carers Assessment is a chat between you and one of the team to understand your caring responsibilities, how they may be impacting on you, and any help you might be able to get.

Contact Islington Carers Hub

Call: 020 7281 3319 (Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm)

Email: info@islingtoncarershub.org

Or add your details to the Contact Us form – Contact us – Islington Carers Hub

*Names and images have been changed for reasons of privacy