Notts pensioners take care fight to House of Commons
MORE than 80 Notts pensioners took their fight for care reform to Westminster yesterday as part of a national day of action.
Nottingham Elders’ Forum sent the largest county delegation of protesters taking part in the “Care in Crisis” mass lobby of Parliament.
The Care and Support Alliance organised the event to call on the Government to make social care free for everyone who needs it.
Campaigners also want the Government to prevent anyone having to sell their home to pay for social care support.
Forum secretary Glenise Martin was among 89 people on two coaches who went to Parliament to meet with Notts MPs on the issue.
She cared for both and her mother and father for ten years and says she wants the Government to introduce state help to carers.
Ms Martin, 75, of Sherwood Rise, said: “We do not want to see the current split between home care and the care people have when they are ill.
“It’s something very close to our hearts and the hearts of many elderly people in the UK.
“We’ve got pensioners in their 60s and 70s now looking after parents who are in their 80s and 90s and they are not getting enough help.
“We need more care for carers in the UK and all social care should be free when it comes to helping people with things such as getting washed and dressed.”
Under current arrangements local authorities carry out financial assessments to work out how much money a person needing care should pay, and whether the local authority should contribute.
Yesterday the forum met six Notts MPs to ask them to pass on their concerns to the Government.
Around 1,000 people from around the UK including the elderly, disabled and their carers took part in yesterday’s action.
Groups including Age UK are among the 50 organisations that have joined up under the name of the alliance.
Organisers also ran an online lobby through the social networking website Twitter, dubbed a “Twobby”.
Ms Martin added: “I definitely felt the day made a difference purely because of the number of people that were there. All our questions were recorded and they will hopefully be put into some form of package and presented to the Government.
“We are expecting a response and we want them to say they are going to make changes.”
