Left alone for 15 hours: Widespread outrage over plight of Leeds OAP

March 6, 2014   Carers, Older care, Social care
A pensioner’s experience has prompted readers, charities and politicians to demand more is done for our older people. Katie Baldwin reports.

Lily Latham. Published on the 06 March 2014 09:36

Lily Latham.

Widespread outrage has been sparked by the case of an 88-year-old disabled pensioner left stranded in bed for 15 hours.

Readers inundated the Yorkshire Evening Post with angry comments after we revealed yesterday how a home care service had insisted on putting Lily Latham to bed at 6.30pm.

Because Mrs Latham is totally immobile, she was forced to stay there without even being able to get up to go to the toilet until her morning visit at 10am.

One of the widow’s carers found her sobbing in bed and the grandma said afterwards: “I have no dignity left now”.

Now Leeds MP Greg Mulholland, co-chair for the All Party Parliamentary Group for Ageing and Older People, called the failures in care “disgraceful”.

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Many vulnerable people denied care, says Age UK

March 6, 2014   Carers, Older care, ukcuts

A “catastrophic” situation is developing in England

By Nick Triggle Health correspondent, BBC News

Man climbs stairs

A “catastrophic” situation is developing in England with many vulnerable elderly people being denied care, campaigners say.

An analysis by Age UK found the proportion of over-65s getting help had fallen by a third since 2005-6.

Last year, under 900,000 over-65s got help – one in 10 people in that group – compared with 15% seven years ago.

The review – based on published data – estimated at least 800,000 older people were going without vital help.

This includes council-funded help in the home with daily tasks such as washing, dressing and eating as well as care home places.

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RCGP to help GPs support carers

March 5, 2014   Cancer, Carers, dementia, mental health

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has been awarded more than £380,000 from the Department of Health to develop a unique online information ‘hub’ to help GPs improve the support and services they provide for carers.

Ingrid Torjesen

Wednesday, 5 March 2014

The hub will collate all the information GPs, primary healthcare staff, practice teams, commissioners and Health & Wellbeing Board representatives might need to identify and support carers, bringing together RCGP resources from the RCGP Supporting Carers in General Practice programme, as well as signposting to external resources.

The hub will have information about the needs of carers, right from the initial diagnosis of the person they are caring for through to resolution of the condition or end of life, with a focus on depression. It will also offer guidance about what questions to ask carers, what rights they have and what support is available. The aim is to link a range of supplementary resources on disease specific conditions including dementia, end of life care, cancer and mental health.

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