Tag Archives: Older care

Cuts to adult social services in Norfolk are going to get worse

May 21, 2013   Carers, disability, mental health, Norfolk

Norfolk County Council bosses warning over pressure on social care from ageing population

Tuesday, May 21, 2013
1:33 PM

Norfolk is facing a “significant challenge” because an ageing population is heaping pressure on social services at a time when the money to tackle the problem is shrinking, council bosses have warned.

Bosses at Norfolk County Council said the number of people contacting the council with a social care need has soared from 34,200 to 64,000 in the past five years – and is only going to increase.

And union leaders have warned that, following the problems revealed in Norfolk County Council’s children’s services department, further cuts in budgets will mean cracks could next appear in services for vulnerable adults.

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Pressures on unpaid carers as care cap system excludes all but a few.

May 21, 2013   Carers, dementia, Older care, ukcuts

Care cap becoming ‘irrelevant’ as ‘crisis-mode’ system excludes all but a few, report finds

The number of elderly people receiving help with their care has dropped by a fifth in just four years as cash-strapped councils have begun “rationing” support only to those at “crisis-point”, a report by a leading think-tank shows.

 

The report calls for a major overhaul of how funding is allocated

By , Social Affairs Editor 12:01AM BST 21 May 2013

Criteria for support have become so tight that long-awaited Government reforms, including a cap on the amount people should have to spend on care, could become “irrelevant” because only those in most dire need would ever qualify, the King’s Fund warned

A total of 231,000 fewer elderly people are receiving help with their care than four years ago despite a surge in the numbers reaching old age.

The report welcomes the reforms being implement in the wake of the landmark Dilnot Commission to prevent people being forced to sell their homes.

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Carers don’t get the support they need

May 16, 2013   Carers, Norfolk

Pressure of caring caused former Norfolk ladies golf champion to lash out at mother

Thursday, May 16, 2013
4:53 PM

Charities have urged Norfolk’s army of unpaid carers to seek support if struggling to cope – after a court heard how a woman who had cared for her elderly mother for six years lashed out when the pressure became too much.

Julia Wilkerson, a former team captain of the Norfolk Ladies County Golf Association and five-time winner of the Norfolk county championships, snapped while caring for her 71-year-old mother and hit her over the head with a broom.

King’s Lynn Magistrates’ Court heard that while Wilkerson and her mother, who suffers from Parkinson’s disease, “clearly love each other” six years of care had caused the relationship to break down.

Furthermore, the 40-year-old, of Saddlebow Road, King’s Lynn, had fallen into a “cycle of resentment and guilt” at the feeling her life was no longer her own, the court heard.

Magistrates handed out a 12-month conditional discharge after being handed a series of letters which showed her to be a ‘very caring person’.

Today, charities for carers told how such feelings of ‘anger and resentment’ were common, but reiterated that support was out there for anyone feeling in such a way.

Maria Plumb, spokesman for Norfolk Carers Helpline, said: “There are thousands of carers nationwide and 80,000 in Norfolk and services do exist to support these carers.

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