News
+ Carlisle carers to demonstrate outside Parliament
July 5th, 2008
http://www.newsandstar.co.uk/opinion/our_view/1.135905
They say that a civilised society can be judged by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens. If that is the case then Britain has some way to go.
The difficulties faced by those looking after sick, elderly or disabled relatives are still often overlooked. So it is be hoped they will get more prominence when Carlisle carers demonstrate outside Parliament later this year.
Feeding, washing and dressing someone vulnerable is often a full-time job. But it does not come with a full-time wage. The allowance of £50 per week is rarely adequate, especially for those who face higher heating bills than more able-bodied people.
This week MPs voted not to limit their expenses. Shouldn’t they consider being as generous towards carers as they are towards themselves?
The least they could do is extend the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance to other vulnerable people, as Carlisle carers request.
And it’s not just money that carers need. When you are putting in a 24-hour day caring for someone, you are bound to feel isolated and exhausted, with neither the time nor the money to get away for a while. More respite care also needs to be provided.
If our MPs deserve public money towards their second homes, then surely carers deserve more than £50 a week for the work they do.
+ SICK AND ELDERLY IN SHOCK
July 4th, 2008
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/Care-bill-change-leaves-sick.4258932.jp
ELDERLY, ill and frail people face paying up to £10,000 a year to get care services provided for them in their own homes.
Portsmouth City Council has said it will stop subsidising non-residential services such as nursing, washing, dressing and cleaning.
About 270 people across the city will be forced to fork out up to a maximum of £190 a week more than they do now for the same level of care.
The move is expected to (more…)
+ NATIONAL CARERS FORUM - CARERS VOICES - CARERWATCH
June 30th, 2008
issue the statement as a joint statement and send it to CarersUK, Princess Royal Trust for Carers, disability societies and MPs.
+ CARER STRATEGY - CARERWATCH STATEMENT
June 23rd, 2008
Carerwatch are concerned that the Strategy for Carers published by the government last week offers vulnerable carers false hope. The strategy states that - carers will be able to have a life of their own alongside their caring role and - that carers will be supported so that they are not forced into financial hardship. But then the strategy shows neither the will nor the means to deliver on these promises. Without the means to turn these fine words in to reality the strategy is not only meaningless but misleading.
Carerwatch do not believe that this strategy is a serious attempt to address carers needs and call upon everyone who wants to reject it to come and join the fight.
+ Alzheimer’s Society Day of Action on charging for care
June 20th, 2008
http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?documentID=681
Alzheimer’s Society is planning a major day of action on 20 June 2008 to protest against the current system of charging for care and improve access to high quality care services.
Our day of action is to highlight that thousands of people with dementia and their carers are unfairly charged for essential care they need as a result of a devastating medical condition.
On Friday 20 June 2008 we are asking supporters to: (more…)
+ CAREWATCH STATEMENT ON THE STRATEGY
June 19th, 2008
CARERWATCH STATEMENT
The long awaited Carers Strategy was published last week and received very little press coverage. You can read the executive summary on the Carerwatch website at http://carerwatch.com/ in News
Carerwatch rejects this Carers Strategy as completely inadequate. The strategy identifies an excellent vision to meet carers’ needs and then fails to provide the will or the means to deliver this vision. Carerwatch is consulting with carers to identify the policies that need to be added to this strategy to turn this vision in to reality.
Please come to the Carewatch discussion group (join with a click from the website) and help us identify the policies that need to be added to the strategy to deliver the vision. There are five ‘vision’ threads running - one for each strand of the strategy where you can suggest what needs to be added.
+ The Strategy for Carers
June 13th, 2008
Here is the Executive Summary of the long awaited Carers Review. It doesn’t really merit being placed on a News blog because it contains no news at all. Or perhaps that is news, that the government are going to do as little as this for carers for the next ten years. At least they have told carers to expect nothing dressed up in acres of sweet, warm words.
So what are carers going to do about this? Come and help decide the way forward in reponse to this underwhelming document. Join the Carerwatch discussion group with a click and come to the Strategy for Carers thread in the Carerwatch Campaigns section.
http://carerwatchdotcom.myfineforum.org/about279.html
Published by Her Majesty’s Government.
Carers at the heart of 21st?century families and communities
“A caring system on your side. A life of your own.”
Summary
Carers at the heart of 21st-Century families and Communities – summary 1
Preface
Photo: Gordon Brown PM
Caring for our relatives and friends when they are in need is a challenge that the vast majority of us will rise to at some point in our lives. at any one time 1 in 10 people in Britain is a carer – the majority of them, of course, still women. it is a testimony to the importance of families that so many of us are prepared to make the personal (more…)
+ Thousands ‘are forced to choose between food and home care’
June 9th, 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/jun/04/disability.socialexclusion
Thousands of vulnerable people are going without food and heating to pay the soaring costs of homecare services provided by local authorities, a coalition of 18 charities says in a report out today.
The charities found that charges for assistance with dressing, washing and eating have more than trebled since (more…)
+ Elderly face 41% hike in care bills
June 9th, 2008
Residents in council-run care homes could soon be hit with a 41 per cent rise in their weekly charges.
Staffordshire County Council has been forced to raise the charges at its remaining elderly care homes to cover the costs of increased pay for female workers.
The job evaluation process has meant care staff and cooks have seen their pay rise between 50 and 64 per cent this year, to bring them in line with other council employees.
Councillor Susan Woodward, portfolio holder for healthier communities and older people, last month took the decision to pass on these costs to the service user. (more…)
+ Councils Cut Back on Social Care
June 8th, 2008
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/politics_show/7435124.stm
Elderly people in England are facing further cutbacks to social services, according to a report provided to the Politics Show.
Includes an 8 minute video and this next link will tell you what categories your own borough caters for…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/bsp/hi/pdfs/08_06_08_adass_survey_2.pdf
The Local Government Association surveyed the eligibility criteria which each council in England will use in the new financial year.
Nine councils have tightened their eligibility criteria, meaning people with lesser needs will no longer receive assistance, while just two have widened their criteria.
Help with basic daily tasks, such as washing and eating, is increasingly available only to those with the greatest need.
Three quarters of councils now only provide personal care to elderly and disabled people who have greater than ’substantial’ needs.
And there are wide variations in the care received across England. (more…)