Every health system depends on work that never appears in its budget.
Relatives wash, feed, lift and watch over patients at home.
Most of these are women between forty and sixty.
Many reduce their paid hours or leave employment entirely.
The immediate loss of income is visible; the later loss is not.
Years out of work lower a for the rest of a life.
Surveys also find high rates of back injury, and among .
Governments know that paid care would cost far more than any support scheme.
Modest measures therefore make sense even on narrow financial grounds.
services give a carer a week away each year.
Training in safe lifting prevents the injuries that create new patients.
Pension credits recognise the years given to care.
None of this is generous; it is simply an honest of work already done.