Unpaid carers in Cornwall are being supported by Exminster-based Westbank Community Health and Care, according to the charity’s latest data.

Figures for the 2025-26 financial year show 142 people who live in Cornwall but are caring for someone in Devon are registered with Westbank’s Devon Carers service, which is commissioned jointly by Devon County Council and the NHS.

Of these, 89 receive the Devon Carers’ magazine, eight are engaged with Peer Support and six have had a carer’s assessment in the last year.

Also, the 34,000 Devon-based carers on the register include 10 who are looking after a family member or friend in Cornwall.

Westbank has been delivering the current contract since 2018, supporting tens of thousands of unpaid carers. This results in measurable savings to Devon’s health and social care system by preventing many carers and care recipients from needing funded care.

Andy Hood, Head of Carers Services at Westbank, said: “Devon Carers at Westbank is a service that quietly delivers exceptional scale, quality and value for money for the local authority and the NHS.

“Now we have evidence that the service is also supporting unpaid carers and their families well beyond the commissioned area.

“In the face of a real-term funding squeeze, Devon Carers continues to extend its reach and drive down its ‘Cost per Carer’. Not only are we delivering savings for Devon’s health and social care system, but we are also contributing to supporting the public purse in parts of Cornwall.”

Meanwhile, a Westbank service that provides transport home for discharged hospital patients has also helped people in Cornwall.

Last year Neighbourhood Friends arranged transport home to Cornwall for seven people who were discharged from the RD&E Hospital in Exeter, and offered practical support to help them settle in safely.

Westbank has also begun operating a new service specifically for parents and carers of children with special educational needs, disabilities or long-term illnesses. Devon Parent Carers is financed by Westbank through fundraising activities, legacies and grants.