Author Archives: wendy

DH must explain how telecare saves £1.2bn

April 25, 2012   Carers, telecare

Last month, care services minister Paul Burstow said telecare and telehealth ‘could save the NHS up to £1.2bn over five years’.

25 April 2012

It would seem common sense that the ability to deploy the latest technology in the NHS would result in both the savings that the £20bn Nicholson challenge demands and the improvement in the quality of patient care that is at the heart of the coalition government’s NHS ambitions.

Earlier this year, GP magazine carried a feature about success stories in south London, one of which involved how preventing 24 unnecessary hospital admissions over a year was thought to have saved £55,000 (GP, 11 January).

But, hang on, journalists and GPs thrive on evidence like that costed out for us in south London. Exactly how had the DH calculated its £1.2bn?

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Invaluable group for Disabled and Carers set up by East Croydon couple

April 24, 2012   Carers, deaf/blind, disability

Disabled Parents and Carers Together group hailed invaluable by East Croydon couple

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Croydon Advertiser

A DISABLED couple who dedicate their lives to looking after each other have hailed the start of a new “life-saving” support group.

Mandy Maddock and her husband Alun are both blind and depend on each other to get through everyday life by being each other’s carers.

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    Alun and Mandy Maddock, who live in East Croydon, are both blind and care for each other. They said the Disabled Parents and Carers Together group would be ‘invaluable’

The couple, from East Croydon, say there is not enough support for disabled carers but have welcomed the idea of a new group which has been set up to specifically help them and others in similar situations.

The Disabled Parents and Carers Together (DPACT) group has been set up to offer help, guidance and a listening ear to those who look after other people while having a disability themselves.

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St Albans carer support group gets vital funding

April 23, 2012   Carers

Carer support group gets vital funding

Madeleine Burton

Monday, April 23, 2012
10:03 AM

A CARER support group which lost its funding last March has good reason to thank the lottery and their county councillor for their continued existence.

 

Dawn to Dusk is a self-help group which meets weekly and provides mutual support and various activities which give carers a break.

Originally it was affiliated to Age UK but last March, in common with many other groups in the county, it lost its funding.

Rather than fold as the group had been together for more than six years, members decided to keep the group going themselves and each one contributes £4 a week.

In the meantime, Dawn to Dusk successfully applied to the Big Lottery Fund for a grant and received over £550 which was, in turn, matched by their county councillor Chris Brazier from his localities budget.

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