Monthly Archives: February 2013
The Government wants your views for the Draft Care and Support Bill
Draft Care and Support Bill forum
The Joint Committee on the draft Care and Support Bill, chaired by Paul Burstow MP, is conducting pre-legislative scrutiny of the draft Bill and has set up this web forum to hear the views of carers.
The Committee would like to hear about your experiences as a carer and what impact you think the Government’s proposed legislation might have on your own situation, either positive or negative. Your comments will help inform the recommendations the Committee makes to the Government in their report.
The draft Bill covers a number of areas relating to care and support but the Committee would particularly like to hear the views of carers on three key areas. This forum will close on 22 February.
Responsibilities of local authorities
The draft Bill proposes a ‘broader care and support role’ for local authorities. What impact do you think the proposed changes will have on the role of local authorities? Will the proposed changes help carers?
Carers ICare card will be a help because CA is so low
ICare Card sheme launches for Shropshire carers
Called the ‘ICare Card’, the scheme is appealing for local businesses, both large and small, to offer a discount and other benefits to the thousands of carers in Shropshire.
Julie Alanthwaite of Shropshire RCC said: “This unseen army of carers struggle to cope not only with the pressure of caring for a friend or loved one, but also with the cost involved, so any help provided by local businesses can make a big difference.
“The government carers allowance scheme for somebody doing around 35 hours a week amounts to no more than just £1.67 per hour, which is significantly lower than the minimum wage.”
A Warning about eating too much meat!
World Cancer Day: How meat can be murder
Warnings are now added to cigarettes, but what about meat consumption?
Monday 4 February 2013
Today is World Cancer Day.
When you consider the efforts to fight cancer, the image that most readily springs to mind might be the graphic warning labels added to cigarette packets sold in the UK and other countries, which have helped curb smoking and its associated health risks. Similar warnings should be placed on meat and dairy products for the same reason. Unlike foods from plants that enhance our health, meat and dairy products have the same hazards as cigarette smoking, including increased risks of strokes, heart disease and cancer.
According to Cancer Research statistics, nearly 425,000 cases of cancer were diagnosed across the UK in 2010, the most recent year of complete statistics – and more than 150,000 Britons died from the disease that same year. The World Health Organisation has determined that dietary factors account for at least 30 per cent of all cancer in Western countries and up to 20 per cent in developing countries.
Processed meat, such as bacon, sausage, ham, and the like, is so strongly linked with bowel cancer – the second-largest cause of cancer death in the UK – that no one should ever eat it, according to a recent report by the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Institute for Cancer Research, based on a systematic review of more than 1,000 papers on bowel cancer carried out at Imperial College London.
