SOCIAL CARE IN CRISIS?

[Scally]

This submission to Parliament by Simon Duffy is too hard-hitting and well referenced not to be read and debated:
Summary

• Adult social care is in a state of profound system-wide crisis, accelerated by austerity. It is breaching human rights amidst increasing rates of (premature) death and abuse.
• We recommend a root and branch reform of the whole system, moving responsibility away from the Department of Health, to create a new framework to promote citizenship for all.

http://data.parliament.uk/writteneviden ... 35928.html

[Chris From The Gulag]

The irony in the Report is that , excluding the figures , the essence of the findings could have been written more than a decade ago when the first of the local authority cutbacks occurred.

Since then , with virtually no opposition at local level , each local authority in turn has tightened the eligibility criteria to save monies for other areas.

Austerity is partly to blame for the acceleration in cuts BUT ... and a big but ... what would have happened if the Carer Organisations had listened to the numerous reports coming in from carers nationwide as early as 2004 and , even as a token gesture , asked the Government of the day some leading questions ?

I would add that one would be hard pressed to find any reference to resistance to the cuts in the national newspapers since that time. Many references have since been made by individual journalists in several newspapers .... the Guardian and the Morning Star so noted .... but none have quoted any of the Carer Organisations.

Questions should be asked ... they were .... as a historical note , this era will go down as the time X million carers and their carers were definitely left swinging in wind .... with no one political party or organisation even raising a token gesture.

Just where does that leave the unrepresented millions ?

[susieq]

Austerity is partly to blame for the acceleration in cuts BUT ... and a big but ... what would have happened if the Carer Organisations had listened to the numerous reports coming in from carers nationwide as early as 2004 and , even as a token gesture , asked the Government of the day some leading questions?..............................

Questions should be asked ... they were .... as a historical note , this era will go down as the time X million carers and their carers were definitely left swinging in wind .... with no one political party or organisation even raising a token gesture.

Just where does that leave the unrepresented millions ?

This link is to the main website and gives details of various campaigns that CUK is running/has run.

http://www.carersuk.org/news-and-campaigns/campaigns

Not a lot of people realise that there would be no Carers Allowance if the Reverend Mary Webster (our founder)
hadn't campaigned for the Dependent Relative Tax Allowance (the first ever legal right for carers) in 1967, and that CUK still campaigns for Carers Allowance to be increased inline with the minimum wage. There is more about the organisations campaign history here
http://www.carersuk.org/about-us/who-we-are/our-history

[Chris From The Gulag]

The tombstone of this Organisation' history will make an interesting epitaph.

I wonder how it will be viewed by the survivors who make it into the 22nd. century ?

[charles47]

Chris, carers organisations have been at the forefront of arguing for improvements and halting the cuts. Trouble is they are not the politicians who make the decisions, and carers are an afterthought.

If you have any concrete suggestions for what could be tried to improve things, I for one would love to hear them.

[Chris From The Gulag]

Exactly my point !

No current organisation is geared to " contest " Government policy beyond lobbying .... and , as mentioned on another thread , no current political party has a policy to reverse , or even slowdown , the cuts in welfare / support services .... lobby to your heart's desire , no one is prepared to act now , or in the foreseeable future.

One can refer to the recent Hansard report covering the Carers Day discussions in the House .... interesting , as if carers were a separate breed to others ... more apt , where was the PASSION ... again , noticeably absent during the last Carers Meeting broadcast live on Carers Radio.

It is not a criticism of Carers UK or any other organisation purporting to represent the elderly / the less abled / the carers .... merely a reflection of actual reality for the millions affected by continuing Government policy.

As discussed at length almost a decade ago , there is no immediate answer ... one can only hope that a change in the Law will bring some relief .... and that will take someone in the legal fraternity to start the ball rolling.

[Chris From The Gulag]

Probably posted previously .... given the subject matter .... the Hansard report of 9 June 2016 covering discussions on carers .... interesting .... but what's missing beyond a regurgitation of information ?

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2 ... 0925000116