Tag Archives: mental health

Health and Clinical Commissioning Groups

January 19, 2013   Carers, mental health

Lee Stribling

Why do you need to know this?

You’ve probably realised by now that issues around types of care, funding, assessment and all things dementia related are not straightforward.  At some point the person you care for will have contact with Health professionals such as their GP. I thought it would be useful to explain the current structure (November 2012) so you could see how things are linked.  I’ll also talk about CCGs (the Clinical Commissioning Groups) as these are groups of doctors who decide how the budget is spent as well as signposting you to resources about how things will look from April 2013.


If there is a lack of provision for services for people with dementia in your area, you may wish to contact the CCG to highlight this gap so that they can make decisions as to whether this is a local need.  CCGs are comprised of other people too, including those who use services and you may wish to be involved in this.

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While our pensioners are living in poverty, should we really be sending more money abroad?

January 16, 2013   Alzheimer’s, Carers, charities, dementia, Older care

Funding the care for our vulnerable elderly is an issue of morality, not charity, writes Tracey Crouch

By Tracey Crouch

1:49PM GMT 15 Jan 2013

Last week, Parliament spent a full afternoon debating the extremely important issue of dementia. Colleagues from across the House spoke with real passion and emotion, sometimes based on personal experience, about a dreadful condition which in just a few years time will affect over a million people, or one in three of those aged over 65.

Most people will already know someone who has dementia or who will suffer from dementia in the future, and so how politicians deal with our ageing population and all the related issues that it brings is a real life electoral issue. People judge a government on its morality, and what can be more important than how we treat our vulnerable elderly?

It breaks my heart to hear about those in their retirement living in poverty. The Government has done the right thing to introduce the triple lock into pension increases, maintain the commitment to the winter fuel allowance and continue with cold weather payments. But with adult social care budgets being cut and a care funding crisis looming, so much more needs to be done, and it is time we recalibrated our spending priorities to ensure that taxpayers money, stretched as it is, goes into providing the services we need at home, not financing projects abroad.

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Film premiere highlights extra support for Torbay carers

January 9, 2013   Alzheimer’s, Carers, dementia, health, mental health

Help for families supporting an older person suffering from depression, anxiety or psychosis.

Tuesday, January 08, 2013

 

  1. ​Carers, patients and healthcare staff from across Torbay and Southern Devon recently came together to celebrate the launch of a new educational film to help families supporting an older person suffering from depression, anxiety or psychosis.
  2. Funded and produced in collaboration between Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust’s Torbay Carers Services and Devon Partnership NHS Trust, the film is the third in a series of DVDs aimed at supporting unpaid carers.

Caring for an Older Person with Depression, Anxiety or Psychosis follows on from two highly successful films about dementia. The films share the experience of living with, and caring for, someone with mental ill health and explore the ways in which people learn to cope with the challenges involved.

This latest film features four couples who have lived with depression, anxiety or a psychotic illness. They openly discuss what happened to them, the effect of their illness on their daily lives and relationships and how they have come through their struggles with ill health. Carers talk about the effect on the person with the illness and on themselves.

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