Author Archives: wendy

Disabled people 'could be forgotten' amid social care reform

January 17, 2013   benefits, Carers, disability

A third of people getting social care are younger people with disabilities

By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News

Adults with disabilities in England are being deprived of basic care and support and are at risk of being forgotten in the wider reform of the social care system, campaigners say.

Much of the focus on care has been centred around the crisis facing the elderly.

But a coalition of charities has warned people with disabilities under the age of 65 are being neglected too.

They said the squeeze on council care meant many were already missing out.

And the groups, including Mencap, Scope, the National Autistic Society, Leonard Cheshire Disability and Sense, warned the situation could deteriorate under the forthcoming reform of the system.

Ministers are soon expected to announce a cap will be placed on the costs people face for care.

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Dementia patients going undiagnosed

January 17, 2013   Alzheimer’s, Carers, dementia

Half the people who have dementia have not been diagnosed

 

Published on Wednesday 16 January 2013 09:03

Latest figures reveal there are almost 5,500 living in central Lancashire who have dementia.

However, it is believed that around half the people who have dementia have not been diagnosed and are living with the disease without receiving the help and support they need.

The Alzheimer’s Society has revealed an increase in the number of people living with dementia with 42,000 people diagnosed with the condition – an increase of almost 4,000 since last year.

However, there are thought to be another 43,000 people living with the condition who have not been diagnosed yet.

In the central Lancashire area which includes Preston and surrounding areas, there were 2,544 diagnosed with dementia in 2012 compared to 2,313 in 2011.

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While our pensioners are living in poverty, should we really be sending more money abroad?

January 16, 2013   Alzheimer’s, Carers, charities, dementia, Older care

Funding the care for our vulnerable elderly is an issue of morality, not charity, writes Tracey Crouch

By Tracey Crouch

1:49PM GMT 15 Jan 2013

Last week, Parliament spent a full afternoon debating the extremely important issue of dementia. Colleagues from across the House spoke with real passion and emotion, sometimes based on personal experience, about a dreadful condition which in just a few years time will affect over a million people, or one in three of those aged over 65.

Most people will already know someone who has dementia or who will suffer from dementia in the future, and so how politicians deal with our ageing population and all the related issues that it brings is a real life electoral issue. People judge a government on its morality, and what can be more important than how we treat our vulnerable elderly?

It breaks my heart to hear about those in their retirement living in poverty. The Government has done the right thing to introduce the triple lock into pension increases, maintain the commitment to the winter fuel allowance and continue with cold weather payments. But with adult social care budgets being cut and a care funding crisis looming, so much more needs to be done, and it is time we recalibrated our spending priorities to ensure that taxpayers money, stretched as it is, goes into providing the services we need at home, not financing projects abroad.

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