Category Archives: disability

Proposed changes to mental health services in Norfolk and Suffolk

March 23, 2013   Carers, disability, health, hospital, mental health, ukcuts

Proposed Trust Service Strategy

Trust Service Strategy – how you can have your say
Clinicians in Norfolk and Suffolk have been proposing changes to mental health services for the next four years. The proposals were sparked by budget challenges facing the whole of the NHS – NSFT is facing a 20% reduction in its spend in four years’ time compared with today.

But rather than just make cuts, our clinicians are seeing this as an opportunity to redesign services which are fit for the future and offer real alternatives to hospital care and the care we currently provide. Everything has to fit within our new budgets, but of more importance is the need to make sure all services provide good and safe outcomes for service users and their family carers.

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Family Link giving family carers a much needed break

March 22, 2013   Carers, disability

A day in the life of … a volunteer respite carer

To mark Share the Care week, Margaret Pedler wants to encourage others to sign up to help families with severely disabled children

Margaret Pedler

Margaret Pedler has been part of Southwark council’s Family Link programme for two years. Photograph: Margaret Pedler

My husband Andy and I have been part of Southwark council’s Family Link programme for two years; we spend one day a month looking after a little girl with complex physical needs.

I wanted to find a way to put my spare time to good use and work with children, but couldn’t sign up to the full-time commitment of fostering. Instead I saw an advert for Family Link, which trains local volunteers to help a family stay together by offering respite care.

Looking after a disabled child is a full time, 24-hour-a-day role and can only be sustainable if parents can get respite, while knowing someone is there to allow them some time for themselves or their other children.

The application process was very comprehensive and took some time. Southwark council takes great care in gauging your ability to take on such a responsible role. People who are parents might have some experience but we don’t have children, so it’s not a pre-requisite.

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University of Sunderland raising the profile of unpaid family carers

March 21, 2013   Carers, disability, family, health, Older care

Exhibition focuses on Sunderland’s carers

Published on Thursday 21 March 2013 10:02

THE precious breaks which carers take from looking after loved ones have been captured on camera.

And the exhibition – Time Well Earned – is now on display at the University of Sunderland’s Showcase Gallery in the Priestman Building, City Campus.

The university has joined forces with the Sunderland Carers’ Centre to raise the profile of unpaid carers – people who look after family members or friends who have a long-term illness, a disability or who are elderly and frail.

Many carers juggle care with employment, and the level of care they give can often exceed a full-time job and for some it can be a 24/7 role.

The photographs show carers taking well-deserved breaks from their caring roles and the idea for the project came from Daniel Dale, who is studying a photography degree at Cleveland College of Art and Design.

Daniel first approached Sunderland Carers’ Centre to sound out his ideas and to put him in contact with carers who now feature in the exhibition.

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