The needs of caregivers.

Caring for elderly mentally ill people impacts on many aspects of informal caregivers' lives. Respite care is one of the few strategies aimed directly at caregivers and its benefits have been well documented. As part of a wider strategy review of continuing care and respite care for the growing elderly population in an inner London health authority we focused specifically on the needs of caregivers and their elderly dependants with a diagnosis of dementia. A focus group was organised in order to elicit caregivers' perspectives on caring and their views on local services. This component of our overall review highlights the importance of investing further in informal caregivers who, to date, have successfully prevented a large number of admissions to continuing care facilities.