Author Archives: wendy
Family unpaid carers need more help!
‘Government exploiting kindness of carers’
A man forced to give up his job to become a full time carer has today accused the Government of exploiting kindness.
Richard Burnside, 50, from Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, had to quit his well paid manufacturing job in 2007 when his wife’s multiple sclerosis condition deteriorated.
Mr Burnside, who now lives on the £58-a-week allowance topped up by £100 earned through a part-time hotel job, has called for carers’ benefits to be increased.
“£58-a-week – that is way below the minimum wage,” he said.
Carers need to have more respite
Carers told to take a break by Renfrewshire Council
Published 8 Feb 2013 15:30 
CARER’S in Renfrewshire are being told to take a break after the local authority set aside £200,000 to pay for a new home-based respite care service.
Respite care gives carers a break from the daily routine of looking after loved ones who have long-term health problems or disabilities. It allows them the chance to have a night out, a weekend off or a short holiday.
As the name suggests, the new home-based service allows the person who is being cared for to stay in their own home while their carer takes a well earned rest. The person who is being cared for needs to be over 65 to access the new service but the carer can be any age.
Norman Lamb MP responds to the Francis Report
Norman Lamb MP writes…The government will act in response to the Francis Report
Over the course of four years at Mid Staffordshire hospital, hundreds of patients suffered from appalling neglect and mistreatment. Relatives that voiced concerns were ignored; staff that tried to speak up were silenced. It was a shocking betrayal of trust of patients and their families.
Yesterday Robert Francis QC published his report into the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. The public inquiry lasted more than two years, heard over 250 witness statements, considered over one million pages of documentary evidence, and has produced a report nearly two thousand pages long. It makes 290 separate recommendations.
The story of Mid Staffs, the report says, is one of “terrible and unnecessary suffering of hundreds of people who were failed by a system which ignored the warning signs of poor care and put corporate self interest and cost control ahead of patients and their safety.” The overriding message is the need for a culture change across the NHS to make sure that patients always come first.
