Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal recently made a private visit to Swindon to open a national conference arranged by Swindon's own Princess Royal Trust Carers Centre, Focus on Carers and Self Help.

The conference discussed how best to encourage staff at GP practices to identify the carers on their lists and to offer them appropriate support at the surgery. Working with primary health care teams to identify carers is a particularly important area of work for the Princess Royal Trust for Carers staff all over the UK. The Princess spent the morning listening to speakers and met many of the delegates over coffee.

Gillian Barber, Coordinator of Focus, said, "we wish to identify and contact everyone in Swindon who is responsible for looking after a partner, relative or friend who is unable to manage without help because of illness, disability or old age.

"Carers often see their GP as the first 'port of call' when they need help, but doctors are not always able to keep up to date with the enormous range of information and services that are available. This is where Carers Centres come in. Focus employs specialist staff to offer appropriate help when it is needed. Their aim is to support carers in order to help them to manage their caring role. We all need access to information to give us control over our lives as well as regular time to ourselves. Focus is determined to ensure that all carers in Swindon have just that."

If you are a carer or if you know someone with caring responsibilities, then please contact Focus for information on its services.

Carers cover a wide age range and can include young people caring for parents, brothers and sisters or grandparents. Call 531133, or drop into 25 Morley street, Swindon (facing Villett Street car park) between 9am and 5pm, Monday to Friday.

At any other time, leave a message on the answerphone and someone will ring back.