An exploration of the UK carer world

Telegraph Newspapers   Who is this Dalek's carer?  Better view below.  

  • Daily Telegraph - Dementia page here                                        30 August 2016
  • Chicks: helping the children who care for others                        24  November 2013
  • Five million carers do not have 'control' over their lives                  7  November   
  • Hunt: employers burying heads in sand over care 'time bomb'     23  August 
  • Carers to receive legal rights under new laws                               7  May 2013  see 2d here
  • Millionaire Peter Smedley's Dignitas assisted suicide                            7  Jun 2011


Chicks: helping the children who care for others - Radhika Sanghani , Sunday Telegraph 24 Nov

In the cramped council flat that Gemma Davis shared with her parents and five siblings, family meals were unheard of; there was no space for a table.

It was only when Gemma was 12, and went away on a respite break for children from disadvantaged backgrounds, that she had her first real “family dinner”.

“For mum to be able to cope with feeding so many of us, it was almost done on a conveyor belt,” Gemma says. “We’d all eat the same, but you couldn’t cook that much at the same time.

 

“On the break, the biggest thing for me would be to sit around the table and talk to people.” 

The respite breaks that Gemma experienced are run by the charity Chicks, which offers free week-long breaks for children who are full-time carers, living in poverty, or who may have suffered abuse.

For most of these children, it is not only their first holiday but their first time eating home-cooked meals, listening to bed-time stories and even seeing the countryside. Their days are packed full of activities, from climbing and horse-riding to arts and crafts, exploring local beaches and toasting marshmallows over campfires.

In its first year, the charity helped 25 children by providing them with their first “holiday” experience. Now celebrating its 21st anniversary, Chicks provides breaks for about 1,200 children a year aged between eight and 15 at its two retreats, one based in Devon and the other in Cornwall.

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Radhika Sanghani

Radhika Sanghani is a trainee reporter at The Telegraph. She joined the paper after stints at the Press Association and The Santiago Times in Chile. 


photo at source here

 




Better view of the caree.                        source


7 November 2013

Five million carers do not have 'control' over their lives

Almost five million people in Britain feel they are losing control of their lives because of unpaid caring responsibilities, an official study suggests.

NHS research found that growing numbers of carers are having to put their own lives on hold to support disabled or elderly loved-ones.

The study showed that more than half of those with caring responsibilities are struggling with disabilities or illnesses of their own – in many cases for decades on end.

The recent national census showed that 10 per cent of the entire population of the UK – or 6.5 million people – provide regular unpaid care to someone else, with over a third of them dedicating more than 20 hours a week.

source


23 August 2013

Hunt: employers burying heads in sand over care 'time bomb'

Workers who care for elderly parents should be allowed to choose their own working hours, the Health Secretary has said.

Jeremy Hunt accused employers of failing to do enough to help the hundreds of thousands of people who are struggling to balance work and care commitments.

He said it was essential businesses change their attitude to carers because of Britain’s rapidly aging population and a looming “dementia time bomb”

The number of people caring for someone with dementia is set to grow by a quarter to reach 850,000 by the end of the decade.

more


07 May 2013

Carers to receive legal rights under new laws

Hundreds of thousands of people who care for elderly or disabled relations will be given new rights to state support for the first time, Norman Lamb, the Care and Support Minister, says.

The so-called “Sandwich Generation” who juggle work and family life with caring for their own frail parents will receive an entitlement to help, such as respite holidays, and training in care techniques.

Under new laws to be announced in Wednesday's Queen’s Speech, councils will have to assess what support carers need to manage their own lives and provide services to those who need them.

Although financial assistance will be means-tested, other help with advice and guidance will be offered to all for the first time.

Downing Street hopes the reforms will combine with a new flat-rate state pension to offer more support to millions of women approaching retirement.

An estimated 1.25 million people, many of whom are women, spend more than 50 hours each week caring for family members who cannot look after themselves because they are frail, disabled or have dementia. The number is due to rise sharply as the population grows older.

source    see also - 2d here


7 Jun 2011

Millionaire hotelier Peter Smedley's Dignitas assisted suicide - filmed by the BBC

A few days after Peter Smedley’s death last December, his close friends found individually-written letters from him in their post, telling each one how much they had meant to him. ...

“We didn’t know until after the event that he had gone to Dignitas, and we didn’t know about the film until we went to the memorial service and the film crew was there,” one of his closest friends said last night.

source



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