Tag Archives: carer

Care home residents jump aboard virtual cruise

Story by: ANDREW PAPWORTH Sunday, February 3, 2013
12:00 PM

CARE home residents were taken on a “virtual cruise” on Monday.

 

Cromwell Care Home, Huntingdon, are having a Virtual Cruise, resident Jackie Tulip (95) originally from Scotland meets Piper Roy Sloane, from LongstantonCromwell Care Home, Huntingdon, are having a Virtual Cruise, resident Jackie Tulip (95) originally from Scotland meets Piper Roy Sloane, from Longstanton

Cromwell House Care Home in Huntingdon High Street wanted to do something different to mark National Dignity Day, which takes place on Friday (February 1), so staff decided to stage a week-long series of activities to take the home’s 32 residents back to the cruises they enjoyed in years gone by.

“A lot of our residents have been on cruises in the past but they cannot go on cruises any more,” said general manager Linda Martinez. “We wanted to bring a taste of these countries back to them by taking them on a virtual cruise around different countries.”

The week started in Scotland, where residents enjoyed a haggis lunch and got to meet piper Roy Sloane. Other countries due to be included were France, Italy, Turkey and Ireland.

http://www.huntspost.co.uk/news/latest-news/care_home_residents_jump_aboard_virtual_cruise_1_1848081

Life as a young carer

Sarah Thomas, 18, started looking after her mother, who has MS, from a very early age, and later became her dad’s carer too.

But she isn’t remotely bitter about missing out on the parts of growing up that others take for granted

Sarah Thomas

Sarah Thomas with her parents, Carole and Ray: ‘I’ve never met a young carer who hasn’t been bullied – we stand out.’ Photograph: David Sillitoe for the Guardian

Ray Thomas chuckles as he recalls the sight of bread appearing to butter itself on the kitchen counter back when his daughter was at preschool. “Sarah couldn’t reach the counter to make sandwiches, so all you’d see is the bread and knife looking as though they were doing it themselves,” he says.

Sarah has been a carer for her mother, Carole, who has multiple sclerosis, since she was small. Then, when she became an adolescent and her father was diagnosed with degenerative bone disease and fibromyalgia, she had to become his carer too. “I’ve never known anything else,” says Sarah, who is now 18 and who continues to do everything from general household chores to helping with medication, providing physical assistance, filling in forms and many other day-to-day jobs.

“One of my earliest memories was being amazed to see my friend’s mum walking. I thought all mums were disabled and all dads worked long hours,” she says, as I talk to her and her parents at their terraced home in Shrewsbury. “But I can’t say I was disappointed when I found out that my mum was different,” she adds, thoughtfully. “It has meant she’s always been around and although it’s hard to say what I’d have been like if I hadn’t cared for her from a young age, I do know I’m very independent – far more so than most of my friends.”

Health and social care will need half of Government spending unless changes made: King's Fund

Health and social care could consume half of government spending in 50 years’ time if current trends continue, a think tank has predicted.

 

Currently nine per cent of the UK’s income is spent on health and social care, and this is predicted to more than double to 20 per cent by 2061

By , Medical Editor

7:30AM GMT 31 Jan 2013

By 2060, half of all Government spending could go on health and social care unless major changes are made, the King’s Fund has reported.

The new report states that population changes, increases in wealth and medical advances will increase pressure to spend more on health and social care in the future.

Currently nine per cent of the UK’s income is spent on health and social care, and this is predicted to more than double to 20 per cent by 2061. Taking into account economic growth, current levels of taxation and Government expenditure this would mean one in every £2 spent by the Government went on care.

Prof John Appleby, author of the paper, said that increases on this scale were not inevitable.