Tag Archives: carers
Disability benefits: Minister to clarify assessment regulations
Ministers are clarifying how mobility disability assessments are carried out following criticism of changes to Personal Independence Payments.
Those unable to walk more than 20m would automatically qualify, rather than the previous distance of 50m.
But peers said the new regulations should include the requirement that tasks be done “reliably, safely, repeatedly and in a timely manner”.
Welfare Minister Lord Freud said he was looking “very actively” at the issue.
Lord Freud came under fire over the new system of Personal Independence Payments, which replaces Disability Living Allowance, during question time in the Lords.
Ministers say the new benefit will be targeted at those who need it most.
How does depression affect the elderly?
Guest Blog from Jason Tucker
Depression can affect anyone regardless of age or gender but it is particularly common in elderly patients. Although the onset of depression is often attributed to specific events, a particular incident or situation may simply be a contributory factor rather than the cause. Whilst a specific event or set of circumstances may contribute to the onset of depression, the illness will manifest itself in the same way regardless of the cause of the trigger. Studies have shown that the brain circuits of patients suffering depression show changes to the way the brain manages mood, appetite, sleeping and behaviour. Whilst depression can be a distinct illness and appear without any other illnesses, patients often develop depression as a result of other illness. Elderly patients may find they develop depression following the onset of another illness but Doctors are often able to treat the depression successfully.
Carer to be hit by introduction of ‘bedroom tax’
Carer to be hit by introduction of ‘bedroom tax’
By Nick Spoors
Published on Thursday 24 January 2013 07:50
A carer from Northamptonshire said he would be financially better off with his disabled wife in a nursing home when a new bedroom tax comes in.
Tony Sharman, 60, gave up work to look after his wife Anne, 56, full-time at their two-bedroom housing association flat in Towcester following her second brain haemorrhage.
Mr Sharman sleeps in the second bedroom because Anne’s special bed, designed to prevent pressure ulcers, is too small for them both. She also needs too much medical kit to fit in another bed.
Yet from April, the Government will dock the couple £60 a month in bedroom tax from their benefits because they say Mr Sharman’s room is a ‘spare room’, even though he has to sleep in it, and the flat is therefore ‘under-occupied’.
