Organisation Address

Gateshead Carers Association
John Haswell House
8-9 Gladstone Terrace
Gateshead
NE8 4DY
United Kingdom

54.955603509215, -1.6011962237196

Established in 1996 by 4 carers, Gateshead Carers Association (GCA) is a membership organisation run by and for unpaid carers which now supports over 5000 adult carers across the borough every year! With an estimated 25,000 caregivers living in Gateshead, there are many more caregivers in the community needing our support.

Over the last 10 years, we've directly worked with over 17,000 people with a caring role. Within that, we've provided over 154,000 hours of dedicated carer support to those who need it. Our team of Carer Wellbeing Facilitators have a wealth of expertise and most have lived experience of providing unpaid care. They are here to listen and share advice on any part of your life and caring role.

Our mission is to make a significant positive difference in the lives of adult carers’ by efficiently and effectively providing the highest quality personalised carer support in Gateshead. We work to ensure that adult carers;

  • Have improved health and wellbeing
  • Have an improved quality of life being better able to realise their potential through employment, education and training. 
  • Are treated with respect and dignity and their role is recognised and valued. 
  • Have improved financial health
  • Have a life of their own outside of caring. 
  • Have a campaigning voice on issues affecting them.
  • Are supported across all health and social care needs of the person cared for.
  • Can access support in a way that works for them (e.g. face-to-face, telephone, WhatsApp, Zoom).
  • We help to shape and influence local, regional and national strategies and policies that impact on the lives of carers by being represented on the following partnerships and forums; Carers Trust, North East Carers Trust Regional Managers Group, Gateshead Carers Partnership, North East and North Cumbria ICS Carers Focus Group, and Gateshead VCS Leadership Group.

What we do for unpaid carers:

  • Deliver statutory Carer's Assessments
  • Offer a range of groups and activities
  • Provide short break opportunities, including Caldew House; our Cumbrian holiday home, and CareFree hotel breaks
  • Award grants through our Carer Wellbeing Fund
  • 1-2-1 personalised and confidential support
  • Tailored support for Young Adult Carers
  • Support and offer safe-spaces for the LGBTQ+ communities.
  • Support Gateshead's BME communities with interpreter support available
  • Benefits Support Service
  • Access Grants for Caregivers

You can read all about the overall aims and objectives of the organisation by visiting our About Us webpage. Learn more about what other people with an unpaid caring role in Gateshead are saying by reading our most recent report, Storm Caregiver.

Our dedicated team of Carer Wellbeing Facilitators are here to listen and help make life easier for adult carers in Gateshead. We also work closely with Health & Social Care (HSC) professionals and employers to raise awareness of carer issues by offering tailored training and support.

So whether you are a carer, you work with carers’ or you employ someone who is a carer… please get in touch to see how we can support you.

Areas covered