Tag Archives: disability
Crisis in social care costs Britain over £5bn a year
Crisis will get worse, charities warn
Wednesday 26 September 2012
Britain’s fragile economy is losing more than £5bn a year as a result of a growing crisis in social care funding aggravated by the Government’s austerity measures.
People are giving up an estimated £4bn in pay – cash that would have been channelled back into the economy – because they are being forced to leave work to care for elderly or disabled relatives. The Treasury is also missing out on £1bn of taxes they would otherwise have paid, while carers are claiming some £300m in benefits to help cover their living costs.
The “missing” £5.3bn is equivalent to more than 0.3 per cent of Britain’s gross domestic product, charities warned last night. More than 300,000 people quit work in 2010-11 to look after relatives – and the number is increasing because of continuing cuts to care budgets, they said.
The extent of the losses to the economy was disclosed in a report from Age UK and Carers UK, building on work by the London School of Economics. They said the problem would worsen unless ministers reversed cuts to town hall budgets that were affecting services, and finally acted to settle the long-term funding of social care.
New charter to provide additional support to carers across Aberdeenshire
Local authority agrees to withdraw charges to carers for community respite.
A charter which aims to provide additional support to carers across Aberdeenshire has been endorsed by local councillors.
Aberdeenshire Council’s Social Work and Housing Committee agreed to withdraw charges to carers for community respite, as well as respite provided by dementia support workers and direct carer services at a recent meeting.
Gadget lets you control computer with your eyes
A researcher in London has created a low-cost device which allows wearers to use their eye movements to control a computer
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By Tom Levitt, for CNN
September 24, 2012 — Updated 0848 GMT (1648 HKT) |
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- New low-cost glasses allow you a wearer to control gadgets, even objects with their eyes
- Eye-tracking equipment could help Multiple Sclerosis and other brain disorders
- Technology could start a new era of hands-free computing
(CNN) — Take two video-game console cameras and one pair of horn-rimmed glasses and for around $30 you have a device that will allow you to control a computer or, potentially, even a wheelchair with your eyes.
Previously, if you wanted to buy similar eye-tracking equipment it would have cost you upwards of $8,000. Now, scientists in London have pioneered a device, the GT3D, using components anyone of us can buy from the shopping mall.
