Monthly Archives: January 2013
Up to £2.5m earmarked to fund volunteer army to help Norfolk’s vulnerable elderly
Up to £2.5m earmarked to fund volunteer army to help Norfolk’s vulnerable elderly population
Richard Wheeler Tuesday, January 29, 2013
5:36 PM
Council bosses have been urged to keep care funds flowing for thousands of vulnerable elderly people – after they backed spending £2.5m on recruiting a new volunteer army.
Norfolk County Council hopes to find helpers to knock on doors and tell people aged over 75 about the care services they are entitled to receive.
This will include helping people access lunch clubs, befriending services, short breaks and welfare benefit advice.
High-tech home help
By Charles Laurence , Wednesday 23 January 2013
A new touch-screen system arriving in the UK this year (courtesy of Saga!)
Simple medical information, such as a blood pressure reading, can be entered into the system.At about the time that Michael Murdock began to worry about his mother’s approaching old age, his eye was caught by a stand at a high-tech trade show. It was called GrandCare Systems. Murdock was in business fitting ‘smart’ automation technology to expensive homes – his was a company you called when you wanted to be able to set the swimming-pool temperature from your car, or watch the front gate with hidden cameras. Amid the gizmos and trade tools at the show, GrandCare seemed to be offering something a little different.
‘I thought “Wow”,’ he says. ‘Here was a company with the sort of technology I use, but adapted to help me look after my mum!’
What it was offering was a way of watching over a loved one with a minimum of intrusion and a maximum of communication. And it was easy to use.
Carers’ needs part of bill to ‘transform’ social care
Carers’ needs part of bill to ‘transform’ social care
An aging population is putting pressure on the social care systemThe Welsh government is publishing legislation which will see carers getting the same legal rights to support as the people they look after.
The Social Services Bill will widen the range of people and organisations delivering social services.
It aims to give those in need of support greater choice and more control over the help they receive.
Ministers say it will also give people a say over the care they receive, and control over care budgets.
Under the bill, social workers will have new powers to enter homes and speak to vulnerable adults.
Around 150,000 people a year receive social care in Wales.
