Tag Archives: carers

Dementia patients given right to say on end-of-life care

August 16, 2012   Carers, dementia

People in the early stages of dementia are to be given a right to have a say in how and where they want to die under guidelines for medical staff and social workers.

 

Dementia patients given right to say on end-of-life care

By , Social Affairs Editor

7:00AM BST 16 Aug 2012

New draft guidelines drawn up by the NHS watchdog Nice will require local authorities and health trusts to give people diagnosed with dementia an opportunity to discuss options for care at the end of their life as early as possible while they still have the capacity.

It follows research showing that only a tiny minority of people have communicated their wishes for how they would like to be treated if they were terminally ill.

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Dealing with Dementia: 'My dad was treated like lost luggage on a carousel'

August 15, 2012   Alzheimer’s, Carers, dementia

Special report: When her father was diagnosed with dementia, Arifa Akbar embarked upon a journey through an abusive and negligent care system. In the first of a four-part series on the illness, she asks why, if we’re all living longer, we still treat long-term sufferers as though they were the living dead

My father turned 81 in May, but in a weary mood he will insist he is anywhere between 85 and 150. Sometimes he thinks he is living in a submarine off the shores of Norway, other times in Shimla, India, where he was born, or Lahore, where he was raised.

In reflective moments, he looks up to the ceiling and says it’s going to rain, as if he can see storm clouds gathering there. He tells me his father is watching him from the other side of the room, pointing to the small shaving mirror, at his own reflection. When he’s agitated, he shouts for hours at a time.

There are periods when he is lucid and warm; he’ll tell me that I need to eat more, get more sleep. “What’s the name of the newspaper you work for?” he’ll ask. Then, as I’m about to leave, he’ll say, “Am I dead? Did you bring my death certificate?”

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Big Lottery Fund gives £13m to 55 mental health charities

August 14, 2012   Carers, mental health, stigma

The money will help address the stigma that surrounds mental health and support people with their treatment, according to Nat Sloane, chair of Big Lottery Fund England

By David Ainsworth, Third Sector Online, 14 August 2012

Nat Sloane

The Big Lottery Fund has awarded £13m through its Reaching Communities programme to 55 charities in England to support people with mental health issues, along with their carers and families.

Awards ranged from just under £500,000 to the Hyndburn and Ribble Valley Outreach Team for a domestic violence advice service, down to about £38,000 to Action for Achievement for a community arts programme in Liverpool.

The £130m Reaching Communities programme offers grants of between £10,000 and £500,000 to organisations in England that help to build stronger communities and help people in need.

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