National News

July 2010

Hurry! Make Your Voice Heard

on Government Spending for Disabled Children and their Parents !

On Friday 10 July, the new government

launched a website http://spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk

to let the public have their say about public spending under the its spending review. Government will be looking at the responses over the summer,

so that they can publish their decisions in October.

The discussions and decisions the government takes over the summer

will determine how public money will be spent for the next four years.

It is vitally important that as many families with disabled children as possible speak up.

This is a critical time, and the decisions taken now will affect

families with disabled children for the next few years.

There is a real opportunity to make your views heard

about the importance of investing in and protecting services

for disabled children and their families.

The more people that speak up the better.

Please pass this message on to as many families as you can,

so that they can go onto the website spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk

and hopefully encourage their friends and relatives to do the same.

You may consider raising the following issues:

Please click onto the link spendingchallenge.hm-treasury.gov.uk and have your say.

Time to influence is very limited. Please make the most of that time!

New Website for Carers

The government has created a new website with carers specifically in mind

providing information, advice and support for carers.

Please check out www.nhs.uk/carersdirect/Pages/CarersDirect

Health Trusts 'not delivering' on Brown Carers Pledge

(August, 2009)

Last year Gordon Brown announced GBP150 million was being made available to primary care trusts (PCTS) in England to fund "respite" for people who look after relatives and friends.

But according to research carried out for three care charities, many trusts are either unaware of the funding or have said they do not have the money.

Carers UK, together with the Princess Royal Trust for Carers and Crossroads Caring for Carers, also found that health chiefs were unclear about how much had been allocated or denied that new money had been allocated.

And some health authorities cited budget restrictions for not being able to make any funds available, the charities said.

Carers UK said it has written to the NHS's chief executive David Nicholson, asking him to issue clear guidance to trust on providing short breaks.

The letter says: "Carers tell us that they are still waiting to see
whether the National Carers Strategy will have an impact on their lives.

"In many areas they are very disappointed that the new funding for breaks services, which was one of the headline announcements for the National Carers Strategy, does not appear to have been delivered."

The charity estimates that around six million people are carers in the UK, with more than 1 million providing more than 50 hours of care a week.

Carers UK chief executive, Imelda Redmond said: "Funding has only been available since April and some PCTs may still be putting together plans to implement this policy, but our research shows that in many areas there is no progress at all and little prospect of this improving during 2010/11.

"The money might have been made available on April 1 but the announcement was made in June last year. We would have expected trusts to have plans in place before the funding was released."

Unveiling the carers support package last June, Mr Brown said: "Too often carers are unable to access the kind of support which allows them to re-charge and renew themselves, and to address this we are taking immediate action to double our support for respite care over the next
two years with an additional £150 million of new funding."

A Department of Health spokesman said: "Supporting carers has always been a high priority for this Government.

"That is why the Government published the Carers' Strategy in June 2008 to improve the lives of carers, backed up by an extra £255 million.

"This includes £150 million over two years so that carers can take short breaks."

He added: "However, it is for the NHS locally to decide how best to use this GBP150 million to support carers in their area in the light of local needs and priorities.

"The department does not break down PCT allocations or 'ring- fence' funding as this would constrain local innovation and decision-taking.

"The Department of Health is supporting Carers UK, Crossroads Caring for Carers, The Princess Royal Trust for Carers and other stakeholders, to develop guidance for NHS Trusts and local authorities in respect of commissioning support for carers, including breaks.

"The Department of Health will seek to publicise the guidance as widely as possible."

Study by the National Audit Office

Assessing improvements to stroke services since 2005,

and identifying current gaps in service

( June-August 2009 )

The National Audit Office (NAO) is asking people with stroke (and their carers) in England about their experience of services for people with stroke.

About this 2009 NAO study of stroke services

This study of the opinions of people with stroke (and their carers) is part of NAO fieldwork into the provision of services for people with stroke. The NAO will report its findings to Parliament in 2009, and hopes to identify ways in which stroke services could be improved.

The study represents a unique opportunity for people with stroke (and their carers) to identify issues in stroke services in England that people with stroke believe should be brought by the NAO to the attention of Parliament .

How you can learn the results of the NAO study of stroke services

The study is one of the NAO's Value For Money (VFM) series of reports. The NAO's report and recommendations on the findings of the study will be published on the NAO website as a VFM report later in 2009 (if you wish, the survey administrator will email you to tell you when the report is published).

Everyone who takes part in the survey will be anonymous

The survey is being conducted online on a specialist survey website, so allowing everyone who takes part to remain ANONYMOUS (no IP addresses will be visible to the survey administrators). PatientView, an independent researcher and publisher, is administering this part of the study for the NAO.

The deadline for taking part in this NAO survey is Friday, 28th August 2009.

To enter the NAO's stroke survey , please hold down your ‘Control' button, position your cursor over the following link, and left-click your mouse once:

NAO stroke survey

[ https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=CP6NeFmdf0EjBDbRbRwVJQ_3d_3d ]

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact Louise Oatham of PatientView on 01547-520-965, or info@patient-view.com .

Yours faithfully,

KAREN TAYLOR

Director, Health Value-for-Money Audit

National Audit Office

Date: Monday 22nd June 2009

Online Help for those working with Unpaid Carers

A new web site has been built "specifically so that anyone working professionally with carers has access to the best information available on the internet".

Please click here.

Individual Budgets: Impacts and outcomes for carers?

Individual Budgets (IBs), piloted in 13 English local authorities,
aimed to give greater flexibility, choice and control. Although
primarily intended to benefit chronically sick, disabled and
older people, IBs could also be expected to affect carers. This
study investigated the impact of IBs on carers in terms of
assessment, support planning, costs and outcomes.

for further information on this report, please click here.

Know Your Carers Rights?

There are nearly six million Carers in the UK (roughly 10% of the UK population)

2.3 million people become Carers every year.

One in six Carers put in more than 50 hours of care at home

Almost three quarters of Carers suffer financially as a result of caring.

The Carers Allowance is just over £50 a week - less than the Jobseeker's Allowance.

Carers save the economy millions of pounds, but face bureacracy when they need help

Many Carers simply do not realise that they are entitled to any help.

Other Carers miss out because they struggle

to understand complex and badly explained benefits forms and information.

About 70% of people think the Government is failing Carers

75% of councils fund care only for those with critical needs,

and savings and property worth less than £22,000

There are also tighter restrictions on Sufolk County Council care services

It is vital that Carers get the information, or get assessed,

to claim the benefits that are rightfully theirs because:

•  a shocking £740million Carers benefits are not claimed each year, while Carers across the country cut back on essentials like food, clothes and heating, to make ends meet.

• Carers may be missing out on a range of other discounts and benefits like Income Support, Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit.

• Claiming the Carer's Allowance can help protect basic state pension rights for carers under 65.
  
  Carers UK have produced a booklet: Looking After Someone? - A guide to carers' rights and benefits, which provides specialist advice to carers.
  
  Carers can order free copies from Carers UK by calling 0845 241 9379, visiting www.carersuk.org emailing carersrightsday@carersuk.org or by writing to Carers UK at: 20 Great Dover Street, London, SE1 4LX
  Further information on issues affecting carers can be found at the Carers UK website www.carersuk.org

More support coming?

Being a Carer and Having a Carer's Assessment:

How to get help if you are doing a lot to look after another person

December sees the release of a new resource pack from the Valuing People Support Team

and the Foundation for People with Learning Disabilities.

The resource pack is released as part of the Mutual Caring Project.

The guide helps people through the process of establishing

firstly,whether they are a carer and secondly, what support they can get as a carer.

It will be available on the Foundation website shortly at:

www.learningdisabilities.org.uk/our-work/family-support/mutual-caring

The Green Paper on social care in Spring 2009

will address how we pay for care as a society...