Tag Archives: cancer

Carers let down by complicated and means-tested process

Carers let down by complicated and means-tested process

 

The Guardian,

Macmillan Cancer Support welcomes the government’s announcement that it will implement plans to improve co-ordination between health and social care (Plans unveiled for ‘joined-up’ health and social care, 14 May). People with cancer and their carers are often being let down by the current system, particularly at the end of life. Although the vast majority of people with cancer want to die at home surrounded by their loved ones, most will die in hospital simply because joined-up care services are not available in their local communities.

Cash boost for cancer patients

CANCER patients have unlocked £850,000 in unclaimed benefits over the past year thanks to advice from Maggie’s Nottingham.

 

The free service at the specialist cancer support centre helped to ease money worries of people, some terminally ill, who find it hard to cope.

  1. Advice: Benefits adviser Chris Bissett talks to former cancer patient and Maggie’s volunteer Anne Singh at the Maggie’s cancer support centre at the City Hospital.

Last year nearly 1,000 people sought information from Maggie’s about entitlements, making benefits advice one of the services most in demand at the centre in the City Hospital grounds, where emotional, practical and psychological support is provided.

Cancer patients list money worries as a main concern, second only to major pain, and it is only once they have been helped to put their finances in order that they can focus on treatment.

The vital support is likely to be more crucial than ever in the year ahead due to benefit cuts, such as the new bedroom tax, which started this month.

Banks offered new guidance on dealing with family carers

Banks offered new guidance on dealing with carers

  • By: Joanna Faith
  • 03 Apr 2013
  • All banks and building societies in the UK have today received new guidance to support carers and relatives who manage accounts on behalf of other people.
care-home-web

The framework – and the complementary consumer guide which accompanies it – aims to help these people have a better and more consistent experience, reducing their burden at what can be a very difficult time.

Arranging to run an account on behalf of a loved one is a challenge faced by thousands of people every year. Since 2007, 536,941 Lasting Powers of Attorney have been registered in the UK to manage property and affairs, which includes the management of financial matters. In 2012 there were around 800,000 people in the UK suffering from dementia with this number forecast to rise to more than a million by 2021.

The guidance framework has been jointly developed by the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG), the British Bankers Association (BBA) and the Building Societies Association (BSA), working in collaboration with the Law Society, Alzheimer’s Society, Solicitors for the Elderly and Age UK.