Mum meets MP to discuss support for parent-carers

MP Matt Bishop visited Hayley Charlesworth and her son Harry to discuss the formation of an All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG)

A mum who set up a charity to support parent-carers with their mental health said she was "so incredibly grateful" for a meeting with an MP to discuss the formation of a new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG).

Hayley Charlesworth, a carer for her 10-year-old son Harry, who has complex needs after suffering strokes when he was a baby, founded Harry's Pals to help other parent-carers navigate life-changing diagnoses.

Matt Bishop, the MP for the Forest of Dean, visited Hayley and Harry at their home in Newnham, Northamptonshire, on Tuesday.

Bishop said the lack of emotional and statutory support for parents like Mrs Charlesworth was something "that nobody thinks about until it happens to them".

A research paper published this year by the University of Birmingham's Dr Siobhan O'Dwyer revealed the stark emotional pressures experienced by some parent-carers.

It found that 55% of respondents felt their lives were not worth living, that 47% had thought about killing themselves and that one in 10 parent carers had made an attempt to take their own life.

Mrs Charlesworth founded Harry's Pals three years ago and said that the statistics were "only getting worse" from the charity's experience of working with parents.

She described feeling helpless after having her "whole world tipped upside down" following Harry's diagnosis.

"Support was mentioned for Harry, but not for us as parents," she explained.

"You're told to just go home and get on with it. It's not tenable for families who have to make all these changes to not have any support."

Hayley Charlesworth said parent-carers were not adequately supported when their children were given life-changing diagnoses

Labour MP Bishop told BBC Radio Northampton: "It's time to put this type of topic in the spotlight, the spotlight's not been there enough.

"Hopefully, we can start putting some pressure on my government to look at the statutory support being offered to parents.

"If we can just help some families, we'll have done a job, but at the minute, there is very little support".

The MP said he had already started to reach out to other MPs about the creation of the APPG and that "early indications found lots of positivity" about the proposed movement.

Mrs Charlesworth said Tuesday's meeting went "very well" and thanked Bishop for "providing new hope" to "undervalued and unseen" parent-carers, adding that further meetings were planned.