HOW MUCH DO WE SAVE THE STATE ????

[g.herschel]

Out of curiosity i have contacted 4 care homes in our area and asked them what it would cost for the old doll to be placed with them, they said she would have to be assessed as to how much care she needed but from what information i gave them i received the folowing quotes
£1-100 per week £950 per week £900 per week £850 per week as you know when in care home you "lose" your pension the old doll has 2 war related pensions + state pension if she had her care home fee`s topped up by the state it would cost the state at least £2-200 per month yet as her full time carer i as you all know receive £200 per month so surely it is not just better financialy for the state to allow the old doll to remain within my care and within her own home where she will be cared for with dignity and compasion which is something sadly missing from many care homes also iam sure her health will be much better if she remained at home thus less of a strain on the N.H.S. again a saving for the state .
We as carers have never ever got this simple point over to the government we should once again make our statements to the government get them to listen and answer the question do carers save the state money ? we have all heard the claim of savings of 87 billion for the N.H.S. we deserve to be paid not just for the work we do but for the money we save the state after all just last week GORDON BROWN & some of his senior ministers once again said they wanted to REWARD people who took on responsabilities be it within their family/ home or when seeking employment.


GEORGE==========

[cheryl]

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By having Mum live with us we save the LA at the least £900-£1000 every 4 weeks.
.

[Julian Karswell]

According to this academic study, carers save the Govt £87 billion pounds per annum:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7001160.stm

"The average person caring for a sick or frail relative is now estimated to save the nation more than £15,260 a year."

JK

[Matt Hill]

According to this academic study, carers save the Govt £87 billion pounds per annum]http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7001160.stm[/url]

"The average person caring for a sick or frail relative is now estimated to save the nation more than £15,260 a year."

JK

Can I just mention that is a Carers UK bit of research and can be found right here on this website!

http://www.carersuk.org/Policyandpracti ... 1201108437

[colinb]

i still work, though part time now due to caring commitments, and am seriously struggling to survive, as even with my part time wage and my wife's benefits we have too much income to access support benefits such as HB, CTB etc. the position i am in at the moment means that if i give up more hours at work i will be better off, as i would then access these benefits instead of the majority of my wage going straight to the LA. is it just me , or does this seem to be completely at odds with the governments stated views about wanting carers to work, about valuing carers, and about not penalising carers for caring??

all i want to do is to care for my wife, as i feel is my duty, and still feel like a worthwhile contributing member of society. not much to ask for i dont think. i want to be able to pay my own way, and still be able to afford to live. i think that if the government were to introduce a carers wage under whichever name they chose, it would save them a lot more than 15k a year. i still think the 87billion figure would remain pretty much intact. a lot of the funding for this wage would quite simply come from people no longer using support benefits- how much would be saved from HB and CTB budgets if carers had the income to pay their way, for example; how much would be saved in CA and IS payments. the saving in all of these support benefits would fund a huge proportion of a carers wage.

this, for me at least, would allow me a more "normal" life, with perhaps even the possibility of a social life, a holiday etc etc, would allow me to free up my childrens lives to an extent too

[Scally]

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By having Mum live with us we save the LA at the least £900-£1000 every 4 weeks.
.

On the other hand, if you were out at work and earning money, (average wage is say £24,000 these days) then half of that would go back to the government in direct or indirect taxes, say £12,000. And they would save Carers Benefit of £2600 a year.

Putting "granny" in a home creates at least one new job, at fairly low wage, at say £12,000 a year (well, you've paid for that through your taxes already).

And that person pays tax, not a lot, say £3,000 a year direct and indirect.

So, unless my calculations are a complete mess, putting granny in a home actually saves the government £5,600 a year. Not counting taking one person off the dole, which on average costs the government £12,000 a year.

Now can you see why they are so keen to get us all back to work?

PS: can someone who is an economist please check these back of a fag packet calculations and tell me if I'm talking a load of rubbish?

[g.herschel]

My fag packet says = average wage no way near £24K min wage £10k so maybe at most £15k per year if granny did enter home it would not create an extra job as far as i know they dont work one to one .
Its also claimed that the elderly disabled cost more when in care home they have more accidents than elderly disabled person who receives care within their own home also they are fed properly, correct medication , physio (something STAN did not get) at home and cared for with dignity and compassion, if the do end up in hospital they will be discharged sooner rather than later if they have a family member who is able to care for them at home they as a local consultant from Newcastle said just last year will recover quickly as family carer will be able to give them almost one on one care he also said bed blocking was a big problem with the elderly disabled as many care homes will not allow them to return if they need extra care we all know what it`s like with many old folks stuck in hospital waitng to be discharged but due to lack of care they just bed block .

What about the care home fees as above the old doll has large pension available to her but if she was in care the shortfall is about £2-200 per month that would be paid by the state if someone on just basic state pension of £90 per week and in need of extra care the top up to be paid by the state could be in the order of £3-500 per month that is where we save the state its all down to care home fees and as GORDON BROWN has said he does not want the elderly to have to sell their homes to pay for care home fees .

GEORGE===

[colinb]

sorry George, Excalibur is almost spot on..office of national statistics records median wage last year at just under 24k. all i can say is i must know a heck of a lot in the bottom 10% of earners, who are at/near minimum wage..lol

[Scally]

if granny did enter home it would not create an extra job as far as i know they dont work one to one .
GEORGE===

Oh yes they do!

7 days, 24 hours = 168 hours per week. That means 5, 35 hour jobs (OK, allows a bit of handover time)

Then you have training time, supervision, holidays and sick leave. Call it six jobs.

You also need cooks, managers, admin workers, plumbers, bottle washers etc... call it eight jobs. Even on a one care worker to 6 residents ratio, that is one extra job per one new resident. A 100 bed home will employ roughly 100 staff to work all those shifts.

(Ohio has just declared and Obama has won the US election on a swing...!! Yippeeee!!!!)

[g.herschel]

The care home we used for STAN`S break run by local authority had 60 residents/ patients on 2 floors we asked about the amount of staff this was the one thing that i was not happy with (if my memory serves me well) on day shift 4 nurses 8 care workers(all working 12 hour shifts )1laundry woman (our next door neighbour) plus cleaners not sure how many 3 in kitchen plus some volunteers, on night shift 8 care workers 2 nurses also on days 1 admin just to answer phone and open security door after 5p.m. you had to wait till someone decided to let you in, ive got no idea where you get the one to one care.


No way could they employ care workers / nurse`s to cover one to one care just for the 40 hour week 180 staff . iam not counting JOE THE PLUMBER iam talking about those who work in care home sorry those who should be working in care home and not standing outside smoking which is what i saw on every visit they even said George your dads in here to give you a break you should stay away and let us look after him GIVE ME A BREAK YOU MUST BE JOKING.

Oh nearly forgot this home was for elderly with dementia / alzheimers .

When i visited STAN i had to feed him, in his lunch room some 30 residents trying to eat and only 2 care workers available and if one of the residents asked for toilet my god what a row NO F-ING toilets during meal times is what i heard.

what about the care home fees as you know you give up your pension when in care home as ive stated state pension about £90 if you need extra care it may be as much as £1-000 per week the state / local authority picks up the bill £600.£700.£800,£900 per week .



We did try and see if things got better but sad to say they did not they even gave STAN sleeping tablets even though we had told them he did not use them after our complaint re staff levels and his medication they admitted the staff level`s were low the needed 2 extra care workers and 2 nurses- he was given the sleeping tablets as they were listed on his prescription .

That`s why we only used the care home for 4 weeks during STANS last 2 years .

Thats my next job contact care homes and ask about staffing levels.