Welcome to Carers Corner

[enaid]

Being a carer myself I know how hard and sometimes quite daunting it can be.
I am hoping we can help one another in here with practical and useful advice and tips on Benefits, helpful organizations or indeed anything that you feel makes a carers role a little easier.
So feel free to ask questions or post anything you feel relevant.
Thanks Enaid x


Here are links of helpful organisations

Caring for someone : Directgov


The Princess Royal Trust for Carers |


Age Concern Care Advice


Macmillan nurses - Macmillan Cancer Support


Alzheimers Society - Leading the fight against dementia


Crossroads Care | Charity providing support and respite for carers across the UK

[SpringerSpaniel]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

Being a carer can be very tough. Princess Royal Trust for Carers is sometimes helpful.

There is in my view a greaat lack of adequate support if caring for someone with dementia or mental health problems

[enaid]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

Thanks Springerspaniel, I recently had a very nice treat from my local Princess Royal Trust after the carers assessment which is a formality they decided they would help me by financing a break, very much appreciated I must say.

On the other subject my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's just last week, I have been in touch with my local Age Concern and their Dimentia people and will have a visit soon to take details and advise if there is anything they can help my dad and myself with.

[leclerc]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

Alzheimers Society - Leading the fight against dementia

Alzheimer's society

Macmillan nurses - Macmillan Cancer Support


Macmillan nurses.....any others ya need?

[di30]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

Thanks Springerspaniel, I recently had a very nice treat from my local Princess Royal Trust after the carers assessment which is a formality they decided they would help me by financing a break, very much appreciated I must say.

On the other subject my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's just last week, I have been in touch with my local Age Concern and their Dimentia people and will have a visit soon to take details and advise if there is anything they can help my dad and myself with.

What a great thread Di.
I am a carer myself for my son with special needs.

And so sorry to hear of your news of your lovely dad, as you will know my dad also went through this and I am here to talk anytime.
Make sure your dad receives all the professional support he deserves honey xx

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

My wife is a carer to her mum who lives with us, we would not have it any other way as we believe she is best served with us and with the recent events being reported in care homes that further backs our point.

It works well for us in the caring we give and that she appriciates, however financially we are worse off her mum gets full DLA and AA and hence my wife was getting the carers allowance this she had to be very careful about due to her part-time job in trying to make sure she does not exceed the hours she can work to qualify.

This has been difficult trying to balance the two and it is a headache she could do without.

Quiet often her employer would ask her to do a few hours overtime but in most cases she has had to refuse as those extra hours did not match the amount in carers allowance and thus would of been worse off.

The point is she did not want to refuse all the time as it would not look good on here employment record and could go against her say if she wanted promotion.

So she has gone over those hours some weeks by an hour or two now the DWP have stopped the allowance indefinetly pending an interview and possible prosecution.

That totally stinks in my view and that rule should be scrapped because her we have a Government that promotes work heavily and you are a scrounger if you do not work ( his words not mine) yet you are penalised if you do just one hour over the 16 allowed all for a miserly £55.55 a week.

So the maximum she can earn with the employment regard is £155.55 a week.

So whilst there care homes rake in upwards of £2,500 a patient carers doing the job at home get £55.55.

It is all totally wrong, yes I know carers have to be available for so many hours a week to qualify but if you can do that why should you be resticted in what you can earn.

That does not fit in with this governments ethos at all.

BTW I am also on DLA due to the stroke I had so my wife not only cares for her mum but me also, although I do as much as I can and try not to rely on my wife as much as I can, and as you know you can only get the allowance for one person.

Regards

[enaid]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

I finished paying back my Carers Allowance just last year it took me 8 and a half yrs to pay it back at £5 per week. The reason when I first started working in the bookies much like your wife I was asked to do extra hrs when they were short staffed. They took the full 18 months allowance from me while I had been employed at the bookies. I wrote to everyone even the PM but got nowhere, made me feel like a benefit fraud tbh. Back then the limit was £50 a week you could earn and I didnt go over by much at all over the whole period in total. Funny thing the year after the earnings limit jumped to I think £72 and had I been working the same hours in that period I would have been ok.
hey ho you live and learn and I get everything I can possibly get now for me and my daughter.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

Enaid,

Yes it is totally unfair, you have the employer pulling you one way and the DWP in the opposite direction and you are left in the middle to take the flack.

I will be writing to IDS and Cameron if only to make are feelings known, as you are trying to do you best for the person needing the care and may I add saving the government a fortune and all you get is a heap of stress.

That in my book is not right and totally draconian.

[enaid]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

Disability Alliance legal move over welfare changes
02 July 11 03:20

A group representing 270 disability charities is launching legal action to obtain a judicial review of the government's plans for welfare changes.
Ministers want to replace Disability Living Allowance with Personal Independence Payment, saving £2bn.
But Disability Alliance said ministers had not properly assessed the negative impact of the changes and that they did not comply with the Equality Act.
The government said the plans were fair and would protect those needing help.
'Overwhelming evidence'
Under the proposals, benefits such as mobility allowances for people in care homes would be stopped.
The care component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) at the lowest rate of just under £20 a week, which is paid to 650,000 people, would also go.
Disability Alliance said despite providing the government with overwhelming evidence of the negative impact it said the measures would have there has been no significant alteration to the Welfare Reform Bill.
Neil Coyle, from Disability Alliance, said: "We feel forced into taking action now. We have asked the DWP [Department for Work and Pensions] to answer our queries and concerns that we have been raising over the course of the past year.
"Disabled people are telling us what the potential impact of government cuts might be. The DWP has not answered.
"We feel we have no other option but to take action at this stage, which may end up with a judicial review of the government's DLA cuts.
'Creating concern'
Ministers said they were listening to the concerns of the disability sector and the process was still ongoing.
Minister for Disabled People Maria Miller said: "We are still only part the way through this process.
"I think some of the concerns that have been expressed are second guessing what the outcome will be and probably creating a great deal of concern where perhaps there is no necessity to have that concern."
Disability Living Allowance is paid to 3.2 million people, including 1.8 million of working age.


BBC News - Disability Alliance legal move over welfare changes

[Latch Key Kid]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

Hi

Like the thread.

Looks like there may be difficult times ahead with the cuts and all that goes with it.

Just following on a little from you enaid with a link to the Disability Alliance site and a couple of others

http://www.disabilityalliance.org/benefits.htm

http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Home/

http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/

[SpringerSpaniel]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

New study shows how care may be improved for dementia sufferers:

BBC News - Painkillers in dementia patients
------------------------------- merged -------------------------------
Useful reading if you have family members with or care for someone with this distressing condition.

[Caspar]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

Agree with pretty much all of the above. If my wife were not my full time carer, which prevents her getting a job so vastly restricts our household income, I would be in hospital which is without doubt the wrong place for me.

However, it is also wrong that because of my illness, the entire household is punished, and TBH, at the rate they pay, you couldn't get someone else to do it 24/7.

[enaid]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

Thanks for that springerspaniel, I have just had a job trying to sort out my dads meds. He was prescribed them last month but up until this week have failed to go in his blister pack therefore the appointment to see how he was doing on them had to be cancelled.
They are called DONEPEZIL will google to see if they come under the ones mentioned in that report.
As for pain killers my dad takes them or is supposed to for his knee op and also for his arthritus. I can't say they have helped much with his frustrations lol he has cancelled Meals on Wheels today as he is not keen.
I am going on a short course in Sept to get to understand the illness a little better, hopefully then I will be able to cope better.

[pompeyfaith]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

Enaid,

Taking about courses have you seen these, I did one of these and I was very impressed.

They run for for 4 hours one day a week for 6 weeks and are free.

They utilise community centres up and down the country so are in the main local.

http://www.expertpatients.co.uk/cour...carers-courses

[enaid]

Re: Welcome to Carers Corner

Cheers PF, I am not bad on the carers bit, it is the fact that alzheimer's changes personalities, so much so that my dad is nothing like he used to be in some respects. I have to learn how to cope with this and indeed what to expect over time. Like today I good have killed him for cancelling Meals on Wheels, I was happy that he had a 2 course meal through the week and I would provide his meals at weekends. Now not only can I not be sure what he is eating but also he is without that extra person popping in on him to make sure he's ok.