NORTH-EAST carers who look after sick relatives are saving the National Health Service billions of pounds a year, according to new figures.

Now, groups which support the carers are hoping the figures will lead to greater recognition of the contribution they make to social and health care.

Research by the charity, Carers UK, has revealed carers save the NHS £57bn a year nationally, equal to the entire NHS budget.

There are almost 230,000 carers in the North-East, saving the NHS an estimated £2.124bn each year.

Bobbie Ford, manager of the Sedgefield Locality Carers Centre, in County Durham, said: "This is a good document for me when I'm talking to health and social care people and funders, because it adds great weight to what we're trying to do.

"I've spoken long and hard to the new primary care trust in Sedgefield to tell them we can't sit still and we have to think about the future - because people are living longer - and they're very interested."

The figures are expected to grow even further with the continued closure of care homes and the ageing population, leading to more people needing care in the community.

The average carer saves the health service about £10,000 a year, but if current trends continue it is thought that there will be a shortfall of 2.1m carers by the year 2037.

Mrs Ford said: "Carers are still at the bottom of the ladder, but they should be at the top because if we didn't have them all the targets the Government are trying to reach would collapse."