Category Archives: Older care

Care home patients hit by £240 fees rise

December 26, 2012   Carers, Older care, ukcuts

“If I don’t pay, I could be forced to take my aunt out of the home.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

The Sentinel By laura james

FEES at a residential home have rocketed by £240 a month – because of a lack of council funding.

Dementia patients at Park Hall Care Home, in Bentilee, will have to pay out an extra £60 per week from January 1, following the decision earlier this month.

It means residents who currently pay £485 will have to meet a new weekly cost of £545.

Ideal Carehomes, who run the Ubberley Road facility, say they have been forced to increase fees because a Stoke-on-Trent City Council subsidy does not reflect ‘the true cost of providing quality care.’

Mark Greaves, managing director of Ideal Carehomes, said: “We have been relentlessly lobbying ministers, civil servants and local authorities to establish a fairer framework for fees across the country and one which does not discriminate against self-funding residents.

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Is your elderly neighbour on their own this Christmas?

December 24, 2012   Carers, Older care

Being alone has same effect on health as 15 cigarettes every day

elderly

It’ll be lonely this Christmas … for 230,000 elderly people in the UK as they spend holidays alone
By MARTIN PHILLIPS, Senior Feature Writer
IF your auntie is hogging the remote and Grandad is snoring on the sofa even before the Queen’s speech tomorrow, count yourself – and them – lucky.

At least you have got each other. But estimates suggest more than half a million elderly people will be on their own this Christmas.

Many will feel bereft and lost following the death of a long-term partner. Some will have children but may not live close enough for the family to visit with any regularity.

And the sad, solitary state of many older people is not just a state of mind. Experts have equated the effect of loneliness on health to that of obesity or smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

It can hasten dementia and increase the risk of heart disease and high blood pressure.

Half of all people aged 75 or over live alone and at least one in ten of the ten million over-65s in Britain is badly affected by solitude.

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How the internet and digital technology can combat isolation

December 20, 2012   Carers, internet, Older care

There is no need for family carers to feel alone!

Posted on 24/11/2012 by |

In a week that Jeremy Hunt announced a new initiative to combat the isolation and loneliness experienced by millions of people it does seem extraordinary that so few local authorities and Health and Wellbeing Boards are  exploring how digital technology can connect people and communities. With an increasing number of web and mobile based applications from simple information to more complex care management tools digital technology has the potential to transform the delivery of care and support in communities. It is fair to comment that access to high speed broadband will be an essential element to realising the full potential of digital technology for providing.

An impressive amount of research has been undertaken and reports produced to explore the challenges, barriers and opportunities of encouraging older people to use the internet and digital technology to live more independent and fulfilling lives.  The internet and digital technology has a very valuable role to play in providing access to services and support to those who have difficulty accessing them in the offline world.

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