A MAN who has spent years caring for his disabled wife says he wants to be the “voice of carers” in Barnet.

Brian Altman, of Orange Hill Road, Burnt Oak, has been the chairman of Barnet Carers Forum since it was relaunched in 2012.

The 64-year-old has been a full-time carer for his wife, Anette, 65, who has learning difficulties since they married in 1974.

The forum is an independent group which was set up to improve support services for unpaid family carers and those they care for, providing advice, information and support to carers.

It liaises with Barnet Council to influence social care and health policies, and is supported by Barnet Carers Centre.

The group is s run by a steering group of around ten Barnet residents which meets every six weeks.

Mr Altman said: “We do have a direct line with the council. But we don’t listen to the council, we listen to our members. The purpose of forum is to be the voice of carers.

“I wanted to try and get something set up because I didn’t want people to be in the same situation I was once in as a carer where I had no information or support available to me.

“We tell carers about things such as changes to benefits that may affect them, housing issues, issues relating to care homes, everything that is relevant to them.”

A total of 41 of the forum’s members met on Monday at St. Paul’s Church, Finchley.

People discussed raising awareness of disabilities but also discussed issues such as estate planning and featured a talk from Alzheimer’s Society UK.

Mr Altman, who is semi-retired says he wants to expand the group’s membership.

He said: “The idea is to put this on the map so people can see who and what we are and encourage people to come and join us because we could always new members as it is not always possible for all of our members to attend the meeting.”

“We are also looking to get more diverse ethnic communities involved in order to figure out how it is they do they’re caring.

“We do already have Chinese and Indian members but would like to bring in members from other communities such the Romanian community, and this is what we are trying to promote.”

To get involved, call Suki Sivananthan 0208 343 9698.