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By Tim Ross, Political Correspondent, The Telegraph writes: The so-called “Sandwich Generation” who juggle work and family life with caring for their own frail parents will receive an entitlement to help, such as respite holidays, and training in care techniques. Under new laws to be announced in Wednesday's Queen’s Speech, councils will have to assess what support carers need to manage their own lives and provide services to those who need them. Although financial assistance will be means-tested, other help with advice and guidance will be offered to all for the first time. Downing Street hopes the reforms will combine with a new flat-rate state pension to offer more support to millions of women approaching retirement. An estimated 1.25 million people, many of whom are women, spend more than 50 hours each week caring for family members who cannot look after themselves because they are frail, disabled or have dementia. The number is due to rise sharply as the population grows older. For more details please visit: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/10040248/Carers-to-receive-legal-rights-under-new-laws.html

The ‘sandwich generation’ who are forced to look after elderly relatives as well as support children will be given a helping hand as councils will be forced to provide support to cover respite holidays.

Under government plans, carers will be given legal entitlement to services that will help support them and their families, including the right to respite holidays, help with transport and training in caring. The details will be set out in a white paper due this month.

Ministers have raised concerns that people who care for relatives, regardless of age, are treated like ‘second-class citizens’.

Care services minister Paul Burstow told The Daily Telegraph that people who cared for older family members were being failed by the system.  ‘Carers are treated as second-class citizens compare to those whom they support,’ he said.

‘Yet if we don’t provide them with the right support they are unable to carry on with their caring responsibilities. One of the things I want to do is to place the rights of carers on a much firmer footing, so that the law recognises carers’ rights and their role in caring for others.’

The Law Commission has also recommended increasing services for carers that apply to all of those providing care in order to end the postcode lottery of support. The Law Commission’s recommendations are likely to form the basis of the white paper.

This could mean all carers and the people they care for would be given wellbeing assessments but any support is likely to be means-tested.

Around 1.25 million people spend more than 50 hours a week caring for family members.

The rising cost of care, which insurer LV= estimates will increase to £33,000 a year per person in 2025 from the current cost of £26,000 a year, means more people will be forced to care for relatives.

It also estimated a quarter of Britons expect an elderly relative to need care, with 7% of people planning to take on caring duties themselves to avoid paying the high costs.

I have just been chatting with Wendy who runs Chill4usCarers - you can find her useful website at http://chill4us.com Wendy says: "One of the biggest challenges facing a Carer today is a sense of isolation and social exclusion. Anyone can become a carer in an instant, nobody is immune, it’s not until it happens to YOU that caring for a sick or disabled loved one is understood and the everyday struggles a carer lives with 24/7, isolation and social exclusion is a big factor. Elderly citizens need care and respect but they don’t get it because they are classed as unprofitable. Yet they gave us the society we have today." Chill4usCarers is a friendly independent non profit voluntary organization with a constitution and committee, set up in 2002. It is Carers Week coming up soon - June 18 to 24, 2012. The theme for Carers Week in 2012 is ‘In sickness and in health’ recognising the strain families are under as they see services cut back. There are calls for better financial and practical support for the diverse range of people who have caring responsibilities. Carers Week is organised by a partnership of Age UK, Carers Trust, Carers UK, Independent Age, Macmillan Cancer Support, Marie Curie Cancer Care, MS Society, and Parkinson’s UK. For more information please visit www.carersweek.org.

Extracts from a recent report: Carers have been telling us for many years that they feel the effect that caring has on their own health has gone largely unnoticed by health professionals -“ignored and invisible”. National studies, as well as the stories we hear from carers locally, indicate that caring can take a huge toll on a carer’s health, both physical, mental and emotional. The 2001 census updated in line with 2008 population projections indicates that in Surrey there were over 106,000 carers of all ages, which equates to: * 9.6% of the population. * 51,234 carers providing over 20 hours care a week (48% of the carers). * Of these, 32,021 provide over 35 hours a week (30% of carers) and 23,482 were providing 50 hours a week or more (22% of the carers). * Just over 60,000 carers reporting struggling to balance work and caring (57% of the total number of carer's). The 2001 census figures updated for population growth show that in the county there were just over 106,000 carers who save the public purse an estimated £1.595 billion a year. In the Carers’ Strategy of November 2010 Government allocated an additional £400m over four years (2011–14) to the NHS for primary care trusts (PCTs) in England to provide breaks for young and adult carers. The Government requested PCTs to work with local authorities and carers’ organisations to develop policies, plans and budgets to support carers and make provision available to local people. National Picture The Government has highlighted carers as a group experiencing health inequalities within their plans to promote public health . Evidence of comparative poor health of carers includes: • A four year study of 392 carers and 427 non-carers aged 66-92, which found that carers who were reporting feelings of strain had a 63% higher likelihood of death in that period than non-carers or carers not reporting strain; • Carers providing high levels of care being associated with a 23% higher risk of stroke; • 52% of carers providing substantial care in one study being treated for stress-related disorders. In another, over half the sample said they were in good health, but General Health Questionnaires (GHQs) indicated that 94% could be identified as having psychiatric disorders; • More than 80% of carers saying that their caring role has damaged their health; • Carers providing more than 50 hours of care per week are twice as likely to report ill-health as those not providing care. What Carers Asked For (in order of priority): • Carers Breaks, night time, weekend, palliative care trained staff • Health Checks often referred to as MOT’s • Counselling services, including bereavement, future planning, and emotional support. • More Training in the Disease/Condition of the cared for person, and back care. • Recognised and valued as carer during Hospital Discharge • Flexible appointments with GP. • Support from Employers. • Access to leisure activities, including sports centres, pampering days. According to Carers UK report 2004 ‘In poor health’: Carers are twice as likely to suffer from mental ill health if they do not get a break from caring. Carers should not have to ignore personal health concerns and needs because their caring role does not allow time to address them. The services and support available to carers should be such as to enable them to stay as mentally and physically well as possible throughout their caring role. (DH, 2009:20) The three key areas of importance to Surrey carers were: • Carer Respite including evening, weekend and overnight respite with palliative care trained staff • Counselling. This could be divided up between bereavement, emotional support and future planning especially for parent carers, Stress and anger management training were also cited. • Annual health checks often referred to as annual MOT’s Carer quote ‘Yes we have the GP projects but the basic problem in every day practice is that Carers remain ignored and our role is not universally respected. Carers can be seen as trouble makers and people who deny patients their privacy and rights. The fact that Carers provide the lion’s share of the care has been missed and we have not to date been seen as an essential part of the network of care – often the only care!’ Quotes from Carers Counselling, counselling! A support network is vital…… talking to those who care to be bothered No time to attend appointments nowhere to leave my disabled child Some counselling for parents of disabled children is desperately needed. I have tried for years to access this through my GP with no success. I wouldn’t ask for it if I didn’t think I needed it. But because I’m generally competent all together, efficient sort of person (because I have to be) no one knows how it feels to be a parent of a disabled child every day…… and one day I might go over the edge, but where would that leave my child? Had to give up job, employer not sympathetic Can’t afford to attend dentist – local dentist private no NHS dentist near enough I have sacrificed my career, health and marriage and financial security by being a carer for my son No energy permanently tired and short tempered For my needs to be taken seriously before I commit suicide or put M into care Need help preparing for the worst i.e. Death and bereavement counselling My main anxiety is focused on when we are no longer around I need help with the district nurse calling to do blood tests as I’m currently taking warfarin. The GP surgery is saying that as I am mobile I must attend the surgery for these tests. I cannot leave my husband unattended. He has severe Parkinson’s People with severe difficulties are often bad tempered and aggressive. This can be the worst part of being a carer to be made to feel worthless by the person you love. I have arthritis in my neck and knees and spine, which has obviously got a lot worse since caring for my wheelchair bound husband I have been caring for 31 years I am getting very tired. Get rid of my husband! He is doubly incontinent and I get no help Being a male carer I’ve been ridiculed for living with my mother, which I didn’t bargain for. I am angry but I’ll do my best by her. My employer hasn’t helped and increased my hours. I need more respite and one million pounds in my bank account see what you can do please! I feel that once initial fire fighting is over the NHS loses track. No one seems to check up on our well-being. As always it’s up to us to be pro active I am the walking dead I have been made to feel as a waste of space There is no light at the end of the tunnel Health Checks 4.11 The Government is committed to the future of the national NHS Health Check programme. As part of the programme, 40 to 74 year olds will be offered a free NHS Health Check that will help carers, among others, stay well for longer. Everyone receiving an NHS Health Check will receive a personal assessment and individually tailored advice and support to help them manage their risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The assessment can be carried out locally and in a variety of settings, including pharmacy and community settings, to help to ensure that the service is accessible to all those eligible, including carers who may find it more difficult to access some health services. Carers should be encouraged to take up their offers of a free NHS Health Check when they receive them. 4.12 The carers’ demonstrator sites focusing on health and well-being checks are testing different ways of reaching out to carers, including those in ethnic minority communities, and offering structured consultations to discuss their own health and well-being. The final report from the independent evaluation of the demonstrator sites, particularly around accessibility for carers, will be fed into the on-going policy considerations for the NHS Health Check programme. According to the DH evaluation of the National Carers Strategy Demonstrator Sites Programme, four months after the check about a quarter of respondents felt the way they looked after themselves, took care of their health, and the exercise they took had improved. Of the almost 2 million people aged 16-74 who are permanently sick or disabled, 273,000 provide some unpaid care for other people and 105,000 provide 50 or more hours care. Furthermore, the Supporting Carers: An Action Guide for General Practitioners and their Teams, 2008 highlighted the following statistics: • More than 80% of carers say that caring has damaged their health. • Out of all carers caring for more than 50 hours a week, one third report depression, a half report disturbed sleep and 25% report back and other strains. • The prevalence of psychiatric morbidity is significantly higher in those who care for others in their own home. End of Life (EOL) Carers Support National EOL Intelligence Network Report Feb 2011 indicates that 60% of people would choose to die at home; but only 21% do. Where an end of life care service has been available, this has resulted in more people dying at home because the carer has felt supported. In line with ‘Supporting people to live and die well: A framework for social care at the end of life’ (DH NEOLCP 2011) it is a key priority for Surrey that we deliver high quality end of life (EOL) care and support to people approaching EOL and their carers, to allow them to live and die well in the place of their choice. As part of the wider National End of Life Strategy, NHS Surrey in partnership with Crossroads Care Surrey has developed an EOL carers’ support service, providing palliative care trained staff. The service is designed to ensure that the provision of breaks services, funded in line with the National Carers Strategy, is accessible to carers in "End of life situations”. The aim of this new service, which will be available to all carers, is to address the need, highlighted in the End of Life Care Strategy and in ‘Healthier People, Excellent Care’, to support carers and patients, enabling them ‘to choose where they die and not be admitted to hospital in the last days of life, if that is their preference’. This service is being rolled out across Surrey from November 2011 and is funded by NHS Surrey on an annual basis via a Surrey County Council grant. The funding is for £300,000 annually.

This is a lovely interview with MaryB about Medway Carers and an older carers project. Do watch. Well done MaryB



The Health Lottery draw for 19 November, 2011. With so many good causes out there, it's good to know you're doing your part. The Health Lottery is a lottery game designed to help support local health causes. Visit http://www.healthlottery.co.uk/ for more information and to play online.

Carers World Radio have asked us to put you in touch with this recent live conference on the internet.

Members who are carers will find it interesting:

www.carersworldradio.com