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2011 NewsBeat Panic iPhone app (added 1.11.11)Beat Panic is an app designed to guide you through a panic attack or raised anxiety. Designed by someone who has lived with panic, it takes you through a series of cards in soothing colours with text that assists you in overcoming the attack in a gentle calm manner. This app is intended to help you cope with panic whilst you are out or at home. For more information visit http://itunes.apple.com Health Impacts for Older Carers (added 4.10.11) A report, Always on Call, Always Concerned, launched by the Princess Royal Trust for Carers, has revealed that 70% of older carers' health suffers due to their caring role. The report highlights the concerns of older carers and demonstrates the importance for supporting local centres that look after older carers' needs. The report found that 65% of older carers have long term health problems or a disability themselves, and 69% say that being a carer has affected their mental health. For more information and to read the report, visit www.carers.org Personalisation - a guide for carers (added 4.10.11) The London Joint Improvement Partnership has developed a guide on personalisation for carers, which aims to enable people to make their own decisions about both the funded and self-funded support they may need. The guide includes information on frequently used terms, how to get information and advice, how to stay safe and maintain health and wellbeing, and working out and planning the type of support and services people may need. To see the guide, go to http://thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk Angela Rippon Interviewed as part of Carer's Week (added 1.7.11) TV presenter Angela Rippon talks about Carers Week and her experience as a carer for her mother. Watch the video clip on www.youtube.com Young carers speak out (added 1.7.11) Young carers have been talking to the Carers Week team about what life is like for them. The youngsters talk about not only the challenges of being a carer, but also what they like about it. Watch the video on http://carersweek.org Older carers need more support (added 13.9.11) Almost seven out of ten carers over the age of 60 suffer 'a devastating impact on their health' due to their caring role, a report claims. Read the article at: www.nursinginpractice.com Carers and Welfare Benefits Reform (added 5.9.11) Welfare benefits are undergoing massive changes. Carers UK has put together a list of frequently asked questions (FAQs) to explain what the government's plans for reforming the benefits system will mean for carers and people with disabilities. Copies of the FAQs are available from: www.carersuk.org Dilnot Commission - what the proposals mean for carers (added 16.8.11) The Dilnot Commission has published their final recommendations on how to reform our 'broken' social care system. Carers UK has summarised what the proposals mean for carers - including the cap on lifetime care costs, raising the means-test threshold, national eligibility criteria and new advice and information strategies. Read the summary at www.carersuk.org Will Personal Budgets improve mental health care? Carers and users remain unconvinced (added 16.8.11) Mental health patients and their carers are not convinced that personal care budgets would improve quality of care, according to a report from the NHS confederation. Read the article at: www.egovmonitor.com Suicide Prevention video (added 5.7.11) Grassroots Training, with a grant from se² Partnership, have produced a mini-film about suicide prevention. 1 in 20 people will have thoughts of suicide this year. That number could include a friend, family member or loved one. Suicide is not a subject that people find easy to talk about. Grassroots is working to dismantle the taboo around suicide and create a more open community, ready, willing and able to help those at risk. They hope this film will help. You can watch the film at http://bit.ly/IAmAlive Carers of disabled children urged to 'Tell a friend' (added 14.3.11) Shared Care Network is asking short break carers and those working with disabled children to 'Tell a Friend' about opportunities to provide short breaks. The charity hopes that by enlisting the help of short break carers to recruit their friends, more disabled children will benefit from short breaks. A recent survey found that word of mouth was the way 1 in 3 short break carers heard about short breaks. To help short break carers 'Tell a Friend', Shared Care Network is giving away a free DVD: 'Be the BIG Difference!' to show their friends what they do and why they do it. Carers can also sign up to Shared Care Network's Facebook campaign to spread the word. To receive a DVD carers need to sign up to the national short breaks network at www.sharedcarenetwork.org.uk. Short films about opportunities to provide short breaks can be viewed at www.theBIGdifference.org.uk where you can meet befrienders, sitters, family-based carers, inclusion workers and residential centre workers as well as the disabled children and young people they support. For more information about the Short Breaks Network email lee.cox@sharedcarenetwork.org.uk. Supermarket staff trained to look at customers' shopping (added 14.6.11) Health officials are training supermarket staff how to discreetly look at customers’ shopping habits to identify carers who might need help. Workers are being taught how to spot people who look after elderly, sick and disabled relatives by the contents of their shopping baskets, so they can be advised about support they are entitled to. Read the full article at www.telegraph.co.uk Unpaid carers save £119 billion a year (added 20.5.11) New estimates, calculated by Carers UK and the University of Leeds, show the care provided by friends and family members to ill, frail or disabled relatives is now worth a staggering £119 billion every year. The figure has risen by over a third since the 2007 estimate, which stood at £87 billion. New estimates show that there are around 6.4 million people in the UK providing care for ill or disabled loved ones that would otherwise cost the state £18 an hour, meaning that each carer saves on average £18,473 a year. Carers can calculate the amount they individually save per year by entering the number of hours they care per day into a ‘Care Calculator’ at www.carersuk.org Mobility Allowance (added 11.4.11) Following the decision to remove the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance for people living in residential care, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith has commented “We are giving the absolute guarantee that nobody will lose the funds in care homes that are needed for their mobility.” He has also agreed to keep the Carer’s Allowance for people looking after ill or disabled relatives. A Vision for Adult Social Care: Capable Communities and Active Citizens (added 11.4.11) The Department for Health has published its future plans for adult social care services. The Vision is about making services more personalised, more preventative and more focused on delivering the best outcomes for service users. It sets out a new agenda for adult social care by committing to: extend the rollout of personal budgets; increase preventative action in local communities; keeping people independent; break down barriers between health and social care funding; encourage care and support to be delivered in a partnership; and facilitate access to high quality and independent advice and information. The Vision, the Law Commission report and the report from the Commission on the funding of adult social care will form the basis of a White Paper expected in the summer. Sleep hormone 'may reduce dementia' (added 31.3.11) Doctors are leading a new study into a drug which could improve the quality of life for people with dementia. Glasgow-based medical research company CPS Research is heading a clinical trial using a drug containing the sleep hormone melatonin, which it is hoped will reduce the symptoms associated with the illness. Read more at: www.google.com Age UK Oxfordshire leading a 'Campaign to End Loneliness' (added 18.3.11) Age UK are running this campaign to end loneliness and create connections in older age. They help people to maintain and create personal connections in their later life by drawing on research and inspiration from across the country to offer information and ideas to both individuals and those working with older people. Read more at www.campaigntoendloneliness.org.uk Government releases Green Paper on SEN and Disability (added 15.3.11) Council for Disabled Children (CDC) welcomes the government's continuing commitment to the lives of disabled children and children with special educational needs. The newly published Green Paper "Support and Aspiration: A new approach to special educational needs and disability" provides an opportunity to consult with parents, professionals and, importantly, disabled children and young people themselves on future direction. They welcome the emphasis on a single Education, Health and Care plan, on a comprehensive local offer and a focus on aspiration and ambition for all young people, whatever their impairment. Read the Green Paper at www.education.gov.uk Improving support for young carers - family focused approaches (added 28.2.11) The recently updated Carers’ Strategy recognises that many young carers remain hidden from services. It suggests that more should be done to identify and support young carers and that all services should be more ‘carer aware’. The strategy also highlights the benefits of taking a personalised, whole family approach, which looks at the needs and views of all individuals within the family. Download the document from: www.education.gov.uk [pdf, 3mb>. Show your support for young carers (added 24.1.11) Disability Direct aims to make it compulsory for all schools to support young carers and raise awareness of young carers issues so that young carers will be identified earlier on in their school lives and given the support they need to enable them to achieve their full potential. To join the petition go to our Lobbying and Campaigning page. Infant Scientists Wanted! (added 18.1.11) Are you pregnant, or do you have a baby of 0–9 months who has an older brother or sister with autism? The British Autism Study of Infant Siblings (BASIS) is a UK-wide network of researchers whose aim is to learn more about the early development of baby brothers and sisters of children with autism. BASIS hopes its studies will, in the long-term, help to improve early detection and diagnosis of children with autism. If you would like to take part, contact BASIS for more details. Travel costs to central London (WC1) are reimbursed and special arrangements made for families who live further away. Tel: 020 7079 0761, Email: basis@bbk.ac.uk or visit www.cbcd.bbk.ac.uk/babylab and www.basisnetwork.org Participants needed for research project exploring sleep for children and young people with cerebral palsy and their families (added 18.1.11) Chailey Heritage Clinical Services researcher, Jessica Underhill, is carrying out a research project for her PhD at the University of Surrey exploring the experience of sleep for children and young people with cerebral palsy and for their families. If you are a young person with cerebral palsy (aged 6-15 years) or the parent/carer of a young person with cerebral palsy and you live in the South East region of England, you and your family are invited to take part in the project. To take part, contact Jessica Underhill at: Research Department, Chailey Heritage Clinical Services, Beggars Wood Road, North Chailey, East Sussex BN8 4JN, Tel: 01825 722112 or email: jessica.underhill@southdowns.nhs.uk Government retains Carer's Allowance (added 22.3.11) The government announced the Welfare Bill earlier this month and revealed that Carer’s Allowance would not be scrapped. Read more at http://princessroyaltrustforcarers.createsend3.com Carer Quality of Life Tool (added 22.2.11) A manual to provide health and social care practitioners with a tool to measure the quality of life of adult, unpaid carers has been launched by The Princess Royal Trust for Carers in association with the University of Nottingham. The Adult Carer Quality of Life Questionnaire (AC-QoL) is a simple 40-item questionnaire for practitioners who work with carers to measure a carer’s quality of life in eight areas: support for caring; caring choice; stress; money matters; personal growth; sense of value; ability to care; and carer satisfaction. The questionnaire can be used on a one-off basis for the purpose of an assessment, or as a pre- or post-intervention tool to measure change and the impact of support. Download the manual from: http://static.carers.org (218 KB) Government announces £800 million funding for short breaks (added 22.2.11) The Council for Disabled Children (CDC) welcomes highest ever investment in short breaks for families with disabled children. Sarah Teather MP, Children’s Minister has announced that the Government will be providing local authorities with £800 million over the next four years to fund short breaks for families with disabled children. There will also be £27 million available in 2011 for the Family Fund. The Family Fund give grants for things that make life easier for families with disabled children such as washing machines, driving lessons and computers. Carer’s Allowance to remain outside of Universal Credit (added 21.2.11) Carers UK has welcomed the Government's announcement to keep Carer's Allowance outside Universal Credit. Commenting on the publication of the Government’s Welfare Reform Bill, Carers UK Chief Executive Imelda Redmond CBE, said: “We are pleased to see that Carer’s Allowance will remain a non means-tested benefit. Read the item at www.carersuk.org Government announces £1.39 Million Fund targeted towards hidden carers (added 11.2.11) The Government is investing £1.39m through a Reaching Out to Carers Innovation Fund to support 79 local projects around the country to help identify and support carers, particularly those who have taken on the role for the first time and those who may not realise they are a carer. Read more at www.egovmonitor.com Protect yourself from scams (added 28.1.11) Around 14.5 million people were targeted with a scam in 2010. Age UK have produced a free booklet called Avoiding Scams which warns of the most common scams and tells how to avoid them. Download the booklet from http://tinyurl.com/62jzo2p. Resource Pack for Schools (added 24.1.11) The Princess Royal Trust for carers and the Children's Society have created a resource pack which is free to download. It offers guidance for teachers on how best to support young carers in their schools, and to teach pupils about young carers issues. Download the pack from professionals.carers.org Help for professionals delivering services for carers (added 21.1.11) The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Care have teamed up to create a new website www.carershub.org that aims to be a model for developing comprehensive carers' support services based around the outcomes of the National Carers' Strategy. |
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Welcome to the website for carers in West Sussex > National news > News Archive > 2011 News
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