Monthly Archives: December 2012

Care home patients hit by £240 fees rise

“If I don’t pay, I could be forced to take my aunt out of the home.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

The Sentinel By laura james

FEES at a residential home have rocketed by £240 a month – because of a lack of council funding.

Dementia patients at Park Hall Care Home, in Bentilee, will have to pay out an extra £60 per week from January 1, following the decision earlier this month.

It means residents who currently pay £485 will have to meet a new weekly cost of £545.

Ideal Carehomes, who run the Ubberley Road facility, say they have been forced to increase fees because a Stoke-on-Trent City Council subsidy does not reflect ‘the true cost of providing quality care.’

Mark Greaves, managing director of Ideal Carehomes, said: “We have been relentlessly lobbying ministers, civil servants and local authorities to establish a fairer framework for fees across the country and one which does not discriminate against self-funding residents.

Phoenix Centre in Mile Cross rises from the flames

Computers for Carers donate PC

Tom Bristow, Reporter Monday, December 24, 2012
12:00 PM

Children’s laughter, balloons and presents filled the hall of a Mile Cross community centre on Saturday – just seven days after it was attacked by arsonists.

The message from the Phoenix Centre as it hosted six-year-old Sade Woollard’s birthday party was clear – we have risen from the ashes.

Christmas lights, music and games replaced the ash, smoke and flames of last weekend when the centre was set alight and partially destroyed.

Sade’s mother, Charmain, said her daughter had been in tears during the week at the thought that her first big birthday party would be cancelled.

How to cope in the festive season as a carer when your loved one has an eating disorder

10:12 – 24 December 2012

Do you care for someone with an eating disorder?

Anxious about the festive season?

The festive season can be stressful for anyone with the responsibility of a family. For a carer of someone with an eating disorder, or someone currently receiving eating disorder treatment, it can be simply filled with dread and fear.

If you are a carer, it may feel like everyone else seems to be looking forward to the cooking and eating of elaborate meals… whereas you find yourself just wishing that the festive season was over before it has even begun.