More Carers Week

[Lelee]

Carers Week webchat, 12 noon Friday 17 June
Many carers struggle with money issues, so this year Carers Week has teamed up with the website www.moneysavingexpert.com run by TV regular, Martin Lewis, to organise a special webchat. To take part in the webchat please visit www.carersweekchat.org add your name and press the enter key, no login details are required.
 
Biggest Carers Week ever
More than 100,000 carers have already taken part in Carers Week 2011, with hundreds more events still to take place today and this weekend. 1,700 local organisations organised events and activities - 30% higher than the previous record. http://carersweek.org/organising-events/find-an-event/search
 
Prime Minister hosts Carers Week reception http://carersweek.org/
4 out of 5 carers fear cuts  http://carersweek.org/news-and-media/latest-news/item/996-carers-fear-cuts

Angela Rippon interview http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n-eDCbe8H8

Young carers speak out  http://carersweek.org/news-and-media/latest-news/item/57-young-carers-speak-out

The True Face of Carers  http://carersweek.org/news-and-media/latest-news/item/56-the-true-face-of-carers-hugh-marriott

Emily Thornberry (Shadow Care Minister) interview  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlFyqADvLH0&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL

Carers Week events - please email us (at events@carersweek.org ) with pictures of events you have attended or organised. Also please send us press cuttings that you see in your local newspaper and elsewhere with reports about Carers Week activities, interviews etc - to Carers Week, 20 Great Dover Street, London SE1 4LX.
 
Thanks for all your help and support.
 
Paul Matz
Carers Week Manager
 
Carers Week 2011 - The True Face of Carers - Supporting the UK's six million carers

[MattYorks :) :-)]

Why wasn't this posted earlier in the week so we could have planned to be on?

Can the Alliance set it up as we here have missed out??

[Lelee]

I know, it's a shame isn't it. I only got the email about this on the same day I posted it. It had been in my inbox about half an hour beforehand .....and I'm in Australia.

I'm not sure what to suggest. Maybe contact Paul Matz, carers week manager? This wasn't anything to do with the Alliance, I only posted it for information.   

Linda 

[OP8S]

From some of the changes being made in my line of work I suspect that the number of unpaid carers in the community is going to rocket. The country simply can't finance the amount of care that is needed. I've recently been told that I've to go on a 3 day re-ablement course ( sp? ). Don't get me wrong I'm all in favour of promoting independence in an individual if they are capable of being independent, call me a cynic ( I am ) but it sounds very much like Thatcher's " care in the community " & I suspect that the quality of care for some may go downhill because of this. Is it really meant to promote peoples independence by leaving them to carry out tasks which they might have great difficulty managing without the help of a carer ? Or is it just a sneaky way to save money , I am inclined to think it is the latter of the two.

[Lelee]

http://carersweek.org/news-and-media/latest-news/item/55-webchat-guidelines

The above should be a link to the transcript of the webchat mentioned in my other post or you'll have to copy and paste it. There's quite a bit of reading there.

Services are being cut everywhere and carers have never been at the forefront of receiving services or funding.

I think it would help the overall situation if employers were more carer friendly and flexible. Working from home is good because you can keep an eye while also working. It doesn't have to affect the quality of work as you can schedule your own time to fit in with the caring obligations.

What is a re-ablement course? I worked for the Independent Living Scheme way back when the Community Care Act became operational.

Linda

[OP8S]

I asked myself the same question before it, as usual it is a cost-cutting measure. Just trying to get people that are recieving care in the community to do more things for themselves, apparently carers have been doing to much for them & taking away their independence (like helping someone to do their buttons up on a shirt) now the carer is meant to suggest that the client do it, encourage the client into doing as much as they can for themselves using encouraging words. Meantime client gets severely frustrated that they cannot do the task without it taking them 4x as long as anyone else, gets pissed off with their carer for becoming a patronising lazy git & ends up having a seizure! Well that last sentence wasn't on the course but it appeared to be how the course came across to me. The way I see it anybody people who maybe could manage, though it will affect the quality of their life by everything being so much more difficult than it is to you or me will more than likely have their number of visits cut, or they will be a lot further down the road before they end up in residential care.
I know for someone to have their independence is very important, but I also see people that although they could manage sometimes are very glad of the help & also just the company for a few hours. Sadly in the end it just comes down to budgets. I'd like to know how much all the trainining is costing ?