Monthly Archives: December 2012
Census 2011: 2.1m unpaid carers devote over 20 hours a week to looking after loved ones
Census 2011: 2.1m unpaid carers devote over 20 hours a week to looking after loved ones
The burden on unpaid carers has increased significantly over the past decade, with nearly half a million extra people devoting more than 20 hours a week to looking after family and friends.
By Sam Marsden
5:27PM GMT 11 Dec 2012
One in ten residents of England and Wales – a total of 5.8 million people – devotes at least part of their week to caring for disabled, sick or elderly relatives and loved ones without any expectation of payment.
This is an 11 per cent rise from the 5.2 million unpaid carers recorded in the 2001 census, and comes amid a growing crisis about how elderly social care will be funded in the future as the population continues to get older.
The greatest increase was among those providing over 20 hours a week of care, with the number rising from 1.66 million a decade ago to 2.1 million in 2011.
Orkneys ‘have highest rate of MS’
Press Association
The highest rate of multiple sclerosis in the world has been found in a small group of islands in the UK, researchers said.
The Orkney Islands have, per capita, more people with the degenerative neurological condition than any other place, according to a study looking at the prevalence of the disease across the world.
The research also discovered that the number of people with MS in Orkney has increased, and that one in 170 women has the condition.
Mum fuming after bus driver leaves disabled daughter out in cold
A pensioner with a disabled daughter is furious after a bus driver left them out in the cold to give priority to mums with pushchairs.
Janet Chapman, 61, was with her daughter Tammy, 23, who has Down’s syndrome and was in a wheelchair, at Babraham Road park and ride in Cambridge.
But when they tried to get on a bus, the space designated for disabled people was taken up with pushchairs. When she and her other daughter Jamie, 24, asked the Stagecoach driver if he could move them along or get the mums to fold the buggies, he refused.
Mrs Chapman, of Huntingdon Road, Sawston, has now received an apology from Stagecoach bosses but is not satisfied with the response and accused the other mums of selfishness.
She said: “I got to the bus with my two daughters in good time to go to a dentist’s appointment. The bus was full and the space for wheelchairs was taken up by mums with pushchairs despite it categorically stating on the sign it was for disabled passengers.
