Carers who look after frail relatives are twice as likely to fall ill as people generally, new research reveals.
The strains of looking after elderly parents or sick children around the clock can trigger medical problems from depression to back pain, creating a hidden secondary epidemic of illness, says a study to be published next month by the charity Carers' UK.
The Department of Health is drawing up plans to ease the burden on Britain's six million carers, graphically illustrated by two high-profile cases earlier this month.
Wendy and Bill Ainscow tried to drown themselves in despair at the strain of looking after their daughter, Lisa, who has Asperger's syndrome, while Barbara Baker triggered a furious row over 'granny-dumping' by abandoning her 82-year-old husband Ken, an Alzheimer's sufferer, in an A&E ward in Romford, east London, before returning to the couple's home in Spain.
Imelda Redmond, chief executive of Carers' UK, said the majority of carers contacting the charity over the case had expressed sympathy rather than condemnation, confessing to similar impulses themselves.
'The number of calls to our helpline has gone up sharply but it's mostly people saying, "I have felt like that so many times". There hasn't been much, "How could they do that?"' she said.
'We talk about carers suffering depression but I think it's much worse. [They are] often suicidal. The only thing that keeps them going is they don't know what would happen to the people they look after if they were not there.'
The charity's report is based on census figures and answers given to the General Household Survey, recording Britons' perceptions of how healthy they are.
It will show that carers are twice as likely as non-carers to rate themselves as ill, blaming emotional strain, disturbed sleep or lack of time to consult doctors about their own symptoms.
Redmond said often carers had illnesses that could have been treated, but they neglected their health because they were under so much strain: 'They will say, "My blood pressure's completely out of control but I can't go to the doctor."
'One woman was in bed waiting for life-saving heart surgery, and she was on the phone trying to sort out respite care for her husband and daughter after she had had her pre-med [drugs to prepare for anaesthesia].'
Stephen Ladyman, the junior health minister responsible for caring issues, who refused last week to condemn the Bakers, saying the family 'shouldn't have been allowed to get into the state where they are desperate', is due to make a major speech on caring early in December. He will speak ahead of the publication of a government plan of action on adult social care which could lead to fresh legislation.
The minister is expected to promise personalised care plans for the long-term sick, and an extension of so-called 'direct payments' that allow people to buy treatment that suits them, rather than have it organised by the local authority. Both these ideas are likely to be welcomed by campaign groups.
There will be scepticism, however, about other suggestions he will make. These include encouraging old people to let spare rooms cheaply to young jobseekers in return for nursing help, or asking gap year students to volunteer as carers.
'Why would gap year kids do it? Why wouldn't they go off to Malaysia like any other teenager?' said Redmond.
The number of carers was likely to rise sharply in future, thanks both to the pressures of an ageing population and medical advances.
