Started this thread so as not to take the Carers under threat thread off topic.
I agree with you nobody should have to be in a position whereby they are forced to care for more hours than they feel able to cope with. But the reality for many is that they feel that they do have to continue in their caring role because adequate appropriate replacement care isn't available, they have to continue because the health and well being of the person they are caring for would be compromised, maybe even their life endangered if they didn't.
Whilst it's true that people don't actually spend 24 hours per day actually providing hands on care, it is a fact Ecalibur, not a myth, that some people do arrange their lives 24 hours per day around providing, or being available to provide care for someone else. That is why they rightly (imo) perceive themselves as 24/7 carers. How else could they perceive themselves?
In what other way could they describe their daily lives?
Excalibur wrote in the Carers under threat. thread
Caring full time is - IMHO - almost always inferior and worse quality care to sharing the care with family and paid carers on a fair basis. We wouldn't want to see a doctor who was working 24/7, so equally, nobody should be caring more than 40 hours a week. Its time to put an end to the myth of the hero 24/7 carer, once and for all. Because this argument isnt really about promoting quality care, is it? It is really about envy.
I agree with you nobody should have to be in a position whereby they are forced to care for more hours than they feel able to cope with. But the reality for many is that they feel that they do have to continue in their caring role because adequate appropriate replacement care isn't available, they have to continue because the health and well being of the person they are caring for would be compromised, maybe even their life endangered if they didn't.
Whilst it's true that people don't actually spend 24 hours per day actually providing hands on care, it is a fact Ecalibur, not a myth, that some people do arrange their lives 24 hours per day around providing, or being available to provide care for someone else. That is why they rightly (imo) perceive themselves as 24/7 carers. How else could they perceive themselves?
In what other way could they describe their daily lives?