Monthly Archives: January 2012
MPs doubt supermarket scheme to spot carers
MPs doubt supermarket scheme to spot carers
By Rebecca Keating BBC News
Using supermarkets to identify carers has been described as a “bemusing” and “nonsense headline-grabbing idea” by members of the health select committee.
Dementia: A small taste of hell on earth
Dementia affects hundreds of thousands of people in the UK, yet few know how it feels. A new awareness course aims to help us to find out
I have been led into a room. It is unlike any I have been in before and I’m not at all sure of its topography.In one corner a television is blaring very loudly. There are other people milling around but I have absolutely no idea what they are doing. Cups and plates are clanking together nightmarishly and the sound is reverberating through my skull along with the disembodied voices that seem to be bellowing at me from the pit of hell.
I could not swear to it but there could be lights flashing somewhere, perhaps a strobe.
All is confusion. Every few minutes I am approached by someone who I can only assume has some kind of authority although it is a struggle to understand what they want. I find myself trying – and failing – to bundle some socks, pour a cup of tea and thread a belt through of a pair of trousers. The smallest task is almost beyond me.
Let’s take the fear out of paying for elderly care
The three main parties must agree a deal that will put an end to 60 years of political failure.
By Andrew Dilnot
8:09PM GMT 16 Jan 2012
There is something very wrong about our attitudes to older people. We hear again and again about the “burden” of ageing, but we should be celebrating the fact that we are living longer. It is one of the great triumphs of the past century that we can expect to live longer than our grandparents, as a result of higher standards of living and better health care. So why are we so gloomy in the face of something that should make us happy?
