print this page
Carers UK held successful events at all three main Party Conferences as part of the Right care, Right deal campaign. At well attended fringe meetings we heard from Lib Dem Health Spokesman Norman Lamb MP, Care Minister Ivan Lewis MP and Conservative shadow health minister Anne Milton MP about their plans for social care reform.
At these meetings we highlighted the failings in the current care system and urged them to prioritise care spending in their next manifestos.
We also organised The Care Reception which, for the first time ever, brought together 24 organisations from the social care, health, disability and older people’s sectors. Health Secretary Alan Johnson and Care Minister Ivan Lewis spoke at the event and both assured attendees that the Green Paper on care reform was their top priority.
Our stand in the exhibition at Labour Conference and were visited by 13 Ministers along with MPs, Peers, Councillors and members of the Labour Party, many of whom were carers. We gave them all a copy of our Right care, Right deal campaign postcard and signed them up to the Everybody’s Business campaign. We were also pleased when Prime Minister Gordon Brown MP praised carers’ “amazing work” in his conference speech.
In addition Carers UK member Marianne Talbot, whose mother has advanced Alzheimer's disease, addressed the Conservative Conference in a debate on caring for the elderly with Stephen O'Brien MP, Shadow Health Minister. In the same session the conference also heard from author Terry Pratchett who has been diagnosed with an early-onset form of Alzheimer's disease.
