Category Archives: Older care

Get your windows clean and help family unpaid carers

May 10, 2013   Carers, Older care, ukcuts, young carers

Friday 10 May 2013

Get your windows clean and help the carers

Published on 10/05/2013 19:11

Getting Kilkenny’s windows gleaming for summer, local company McCreery Contract Cleaning is launching its new ‘Reach & Wash’ window cleaning system with a fundraiser for family carers.

All companies and homes who book window cleaning services with McCreery Contract Cleaning from May 7–10 inclusive will see the full cost donated to the Carers Association, Kilkenny. To book the service, Freefone 1850 211 863.

There are 4,055 family carers in Kilkenny. Many are living in very difficult circumstances having faced a number of recent cuts in services and payments, including cuts to vital home help hours and an almost 20% reduction in the Respite Care Grant in Budget 2013.

“Having cared for my own mum, I have a huge respect for the work of family carers,” said Jennifer McCreery of McCreery Contract Cleaning.

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Bleak outlook ahead because of the cuts to social care

May 8, 2013   Carers, dementia, disability, mental health, Older care, Social care

Extra investment ‘needed to make care cap work’

By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News

 Social-care budgets have already been squeezed in the past few years

The government’s commitment to reform social care will require greater investment, ministers have been told.

A bill limiting the cost to disabled and elderly people of their social care will form part of the government’s legislative programme for the next year, the Queen’s Speech revealed.

Previously ministers had proposed introducing a cap of £72,000 in 2016.

But campaigners and council chiefs told ministers budget cuts were already putting the system at risk.

Research by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) suggests the £16bn budget for social care, including services for both elderly and disabled people, is likely to be trimmed by £800m in the next 12 months.

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Family Carers need the internet for support and friendship

April 22, 2013   Carers, disability, internet, kinship carer, Older care, Social care

Why it’s important to get older people and carers confident online

Rates of digital exclusion in social care are higher than in the general populationShare0

Elderly person using computer

One of the biggest barriers to being online is lack of confidence. Photograph: Murdo Macleod

The government’s digital by default agenda seeks to realise £1.8bn of savings by moving transactions with citizens online and it aims to boost the value of the economy by £63bn by developing better digital skills across the country.

Evidence suggests that being net savvy can save us time, money, make us feel better connected, less lonely and better informed. Conversely, being digitally excluded means having less (and diminishing) access to public and commercial services, to information and advice and to social interaction, all of which adversely impacts on wellbeing.

When depression affects 20% of older people living in the community and 40% living in elder care homes, compared with 10% of the population at large, and when national data shows that informal carers have lower levels of wellbeing than non-carers, being digitally literate is not just desirable, it becomes necessary.

Digital Unite research has shown that of those over 55s who are using the internet, four out of five (86%) said it had improved their lives, 72% said being online had helped reduce their feelings of isolation and 81% said using the internet makes them feel part of modern society. In addition, 20% of older learners in a Digital Unite social housing learning programme felt their understanding of health-related issues had improved as a result of being online.

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