Category Archives: family

Support for carers must be central to social care white paper

April 19, 2012   Carers, disability, family

Government’s upcoming reforms must take the needs and contributions of unpaid carers into account

 

 

Saul Wordsworth and his grandmother Miriam. Family structures are changing as more people juggle caring for their parents at home. Photograph: Eamonn Mccabe

We will all need care or provide care for loved ones at some point in our lives – it is an issue for all of society and all parts of government.

As care and support for older and disabled people rises up the political agenda, decision-makers and the public are confronted with an array of stark statistics on the rising demand for care – with the number of people over 80 to double by 2020, 11 million people alive today expected to live to 100, the number of adults with learning disabilities to rise by a third by 2030 and the number of carers by 50% in the next 25 years to 9 million.

But these statistics do little to shed light on what this care challenge means in practical terms or what solutions might look like. They also fail to truly reflect how demographic change is bringing about significant shifts in all of our lives – not just the lives of people using social care services.

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WHO calls for a rethink of conventional definitions of what it means to be ‘old’

April 6, 2012   Cancer, Carers, family, health, Older care

Good health adds life to years

Edited by Jane Hill editor@wellbeingnorfolk.co.uk
On World Health Day [7 April], the World Health Organization [WHO] is calling for urgent action to ensure that, at a time when the world’s population is ageing rapidly, people reach old age in the best possible health.
In the next few years, for the first time, there will be more people in the world aged over 60 than children aged less than five. By 2050, 80 per cent of the world’s older people will be living in low– and middle–income countries.
The main health challenges for older people everywhere are non–communicable diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and lung disease.

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Carers delighted by company help

March 24, 2012   Carers, family, hospital, Older care

The Home from Hospital scheme, run by the Carers’ Resource charity, has won sponsorship

9:50am Saturday 24th March 2012 in News By Alistair Shand

A project that helps elderly people living alone to return home after a spell in Airedale Hospital has been safeguarded.

The Home from Hospital scheme, run by the Carers’ Resource charity, has won sponsorship from Skipton-based Comply Direct after a lack of funding had put the initiative at risk.

But the charity warns that without similar support from others, the long-term existence of the project may be unsure. The venture aims to make people’s transition back home following discharge from hospital as smooth as possible.

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