Why Is Basic Decency Towards Learning Disabled People Remarkable?

I agree, unfortunately caring and carers with regards to Social Care does not get a good press and the Governments attitude to Social Care goes a long way to put social Care in not a good light.

But for those who have a need for Social Care it is a very important lifeline.

As to doing your duty being treated as exceptional, well unfortunately this appears to be so as there are so many examples of bad care and in some instances very bad care.

Winterbourne was mentioned and even if this was the exception, then that would be bad, but it is not the exception, for bad care happens daily.

But a lot of it goes unreported as those in need of care and their family are scared of losing the care they have, no matter how bad it is.

I facilitate a Learning Disability Carers group and when the carers are talking I heard some instances of bad care, but they do not wish to allow me to take it further as they have been advised that the care would be withdrawn if they do, leaving them with no care at all.

I am a carers representative on our local Learning Disabilities Partnership Board and I have request a presentation from the Council run inspection teak, who should be inspecting Care Providers, for I believe they are not looking deeply enough into actual care delivery.

As to the CQC, I feel they spend to much time on looking at records, for anything can be written down, which may or may not mirror the actual care delivery.

So, I will start with the local council team and then ask for the CQC to present.

Care is in crisis for a large number of reasons, of which funding is a major concern.

For social Care has never been sufficiently funded from 1970, when it was brought under the control of local Authorities, and well before 1970. Then we had 10 years of austerity and now COVID-19 making the crisis even worse.

The reference to 1970 was when Social Care when brought under the control of Local Authorities (LAs) for before that it was a ‘mishmash’ of sources. Some LAs, but others included Charities, voluntary organisations, health and many others.

But as well as Funding there is

insufficient staff
abysmal pay
poor working conditions
unsocial hours
insufficient time
lack of training and skills
and others.

To many people caring is seen as an unskilled profession, well, if it is done badly then it is, but to provide good quality care is is far from it.

For, as we all are, persons in need of care are individuals and not objects, for they have feelings, they have choices, may need emotional support, routine to be followed, knowledge of a persons conditions, such as dementia, learning disabilities, autism and many others and in most cases a mixture of conditions.

So, in caring you can not, or should not, assume that caring for one person will be exactly the same as the next one and could need to change on a daily basis, or even more frequently.

So, it is a very skilled profession, for which the salary is nowhere sufficient, as caring has been left so short for far too long. Government promises have been broken so many times and social care has been left to sink, well sinking is not infinite and will come to a base from which it will not recover.

That base is very near and in some instances has been reached.

Action was urgently required, yesterday and certainly today, for tomorrow could well be too late.

Support for my petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care,

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solve-the-crisis-in-social-care

Same Difference

In late July 2019, I tweeted asking families with autistic or learning disabled children to share their experience of “sparkling” actions by health and social care professionals. I was writing a book about how professionals could make a difference in the lives of children and their families, and the manuscript was woefully negative.

The tweets started appearing and the thread grew across the next few weeks. They included extraordinary examples of what I came to call “pockets of brilliance”. An administrator who included pug memes in the appointment letters for a dog-loving young patient. Professionals who were prepared to sit on the stairs so a child could stay in their bedroom during a visit. The GP who told one mother: “I don’t know very much about autism, but I promise you that I will do all I can to learn.” Another GP who rang a mother in the evening after…

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Fly into Caring

Coffey again lets her mind let loose, but in reality the crisis in the Aviation professions and the Care profession should not be used as a matter of flippancy as they should both be taken seriously.

Yes, the job situation in the aviation professions is the current lack of jobs due to COVID-19 and its effect on the economy , while in the care profession the job situation is the abundance of job vacancies due to Government underinvestment, working conditions and the ever extending market for people needing care.

Within care it is not just people fitting in for they need to have the expertise to care, listen to the person for whom they are caring for and proceed within the limitations of the cared for persons choice.

It is not that ‘one fits all’ for the persons in need of care will have a multitude of reasons why care is needed and some of these reasons could change on a day to day basis, or even within the day. There is never enough time allocated in the care package to fully extend to all the persons needs, as in short visits of 15 mins to 1 hour could mean that there is a choice required to whether, dressing, toileting, eating and drinking, emotional support and others is provided and which are not.

So, flippancy is not the order of the day for each area, aviation and care the need to a large extent is massive Government financial investment, which is not forthcoming, well, certainly not for care.

For, within care the Government intentions appear to be to enhance deaths, for it was in the situation of hospital discharges from hospitals into care homes. But deaths could be the result in any areas of care, be it, home care, respite, hospices, supported living, etc.

This situation within care has been the case, well before COVID-19, but COVID-19 is just another catalyst for care to cope with.

Care, (Social Care) is in a very serious crisis and that is the reason I created the petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care, https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solve-the-crisis-in-social-care

If more information is required please see,

https://1drv.ms/w/s!Aq2MsYduiazgoBjtY1Dpe14ktF4j?e=sJYSLV

You may not, currently, require Social Care, but, sooner or later, you may well do so and if the crisis is not solved, then the Social Care you then require may not be there.

Govt Newspeak

DWP chief Therese Coffey has suggested that sacked cabin crew should go work in care homes. She said: it might not be their ‘dream job’ but it could be ‘very useful’ as thousands of aviation workers face an uncertain future she has prompted fury by suggesting sacked cabin crew can retrain as carers.

she hasn’t been on the foodbank diet recently!

Therese Coffey claimed thousands of airline staff made redundant after planes were grounded and international travel ground to a halt in the coronavirus crisis should switch careers.

She told The Spectator: “I want to encourage them to perhaps go into teaching or go to college and to be the people who train the next lot of people who are going to do those jobs.” She added: “How do we help draw out of them the transferable skills that they have, and that could be working in social care?

“It…

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BREAKING: Japanese PM Shinzo Abe Resigns Due To Ulcerative Colitis

Mr Abe is conducting himself with dignity and respect and a feeling of wishing to do right for the people of Japan.

I wish him and his family well.

Same Difference

Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has announced his resignation for health reasons.

He said he did not want his illness to get in the way of decision making, and apologised to the Japanese people for failing to complete his term in office.

The 65 year old has suffered for many years from ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease, but he said his condition had worsened recently.

Last year, he became Japan’s longest serving prime minister. His current period in office began in 2012.

In 2007 he resigned abruptly from an earlier term as prime minister because of his struggles with ulcerative colitis, a chronic condition that he has lived with since he was a teenager.

Mr Abe has a reputation as a staunch conservative and nationalist, and for stimulating growth with his aggressive economic policy known as “Abenomics”.

He has strengthened Japan’s defences and boosted military spending, but has been unable…

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Coronavirus UK: Care homes ‘ordered not to resuscitate’ residents | Metro News

Care homes were told by the NHS to order the forms without discussions with staff, residents or their families.

Source: Coronavirus UK: Care homes ‘ordered not to resuscitate’ residents | Metro News

 

 

 

Lockdown has brought families of learning disabled people to their knees | Edel Harris | Society | The Guardian

The support system so many rely on was struggling before the coronavirus crisis. Now it is truly broken

Source: Lockdown has brought families of learning disabled people to their knees | Edel Harris | Society | The Guardian

 

 

Will social care go back into the NHS? – DPAC

I thank you for this information as it is broadening my knowledge regarding disability. As I did not become involved in disability areas until the 1980s, I was unaware that disability had been within health before the 1970s, although I was aware of the health and social care models to some degree, but did not do any background research.

I became aware of disability in the 1980s when I met my current wife, who already had a disabled daughter, so this was my introduction and I went on a steep learning curve on how my wife and her daughter was being dealt with at that time. I did not like what I was seeing and did my best to improve their lives, but I did not have any experience in dealing with authorities, but since then I have gained in those areas and and again I did not care for what I was seeing, as even with the social model people were not being treated as individuals as they had to fit in with an inadequate system, not realising that previously the system had been even more inadequate.

There were many words spoken by these authorities, but on now looking back they were just saying the words and not understanding there meanings, either by design or not..

Yes, by moving much of disability to be under Local Council authorities may have been an improvement, but the improvement was way short of what it should have been. Perhaps, this had more to do with funding, than other matters, or am I just being generous in my thought process.

But, for whatever the reason , the move to social care has not worked.

Now, I am not saying disability should be brought back into health, but social care and health care for disabilities should be under the responsibility of one organisation and current, health seems to have more in its favour than social or would a completely new organisation be better and take all aspects of social and health care under its wing.

But, whatever, is to be done sufficient funding as to be made available and not made to exist on a ‘shoe-string’ like at present. Also, not to be used within the aspects of a ‘political football’ as we have seen in many other areas over the years. This being, some funding, but most likely not enough to be made available when the then Government feels like it and not when it does not. Here we are dealing with peoples lives and for many of them, if not most, due to circumstances beyond their control, for no one willingly wishes to be disabled and many will have been from birth.

People with disabilities have to be treated with respect and dignity and the current state of Social Care is falling way short on this, not due to the people working within the Care Profession, but down to the various authorities, of which the government is the main authority.

For we hear them speak, sometimes, but not enough, but then actions are even less, if at all. This and previous Governments have made promises after promises, not never any actions to make these promises good.

This has to STOP and STOP now. Yes, due to COVID-19 this Government has been spending money, which technically they have not got, but disabled people have to be given respect and dignity and this is at a cost, which has to come from the Government.

The Government and most in authority do not have a clue, but disabled people do and therefore the Government needs to listen to disabled people from every quarter to gain a full grasp of what is required.

Do not use labels, but look at people as individuals who are all different and create a system that adjusts to the person and not, as currently, where the person has to adjust to the system, ‘person-centred care’ as it should be and not what can be afforded.

This will be some task and the Government needs to be open to it, but, unfortunately time is not on our side, for this should have been done many years ago, but currently, Social Care is in a severe crisis and may not have much longer before it eventually completely disintegrates.

The crisis in Social Care needs to be solved and solved now.

Above I have mentioned some of the reasons, but there are many more, which is why I created the Petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care, https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solve-the-crisis-in-social-care

As I have said there are many reasons for the crisis and many of these can be found by looking at https://www.dropbox.com/s/v8h8caytwwh3beq/Solve%20the%20crisis%20in%20Social%20Care%20%208.docx?dl=0

There will be other reasons and by all of us ‘working together’ the crisis can be solved.

Please support the petition.

 

Source: Will social care go back into the NHS? – DPAC

Hft | About us | “A sector out of options” – Hft publishes latest research

Newly published research by Hft reveals that the number of social care providers who have been forced to cut support has doubled in the last 12 months.

Source: Hft | About us | “A sector out of options” – Hft publishes latest research

GUY ADAMS: Victim of misogyny or just a bully with a vicious tongue? | Daily Mail Online

GUY ADAMS: Priti Patel was once asked whether she thought she was widely liked by the civil servants who worked for her. ‘Probably not,’ she replied.

Source: GUY ADAMS: Victim of misogyny or just a bully with a vicious tongue? | Daily Mail Online

When I look at my autistic brother, I’m scared by what he might lose because of Brexit

I write this from a train, on the way to visit my younger brother. When I get to Wales, where he lives in a care home, he will be waiting at the station with his care worker, who, having driven him there in the motability car, will have already have put in a full morning’s work. He or she (they work in shift patterns) will have helped my brother get up, washed and dressed; helped him use the toilet; made him his breakfast; given him his medication, and provided him with a “key schedule” of the day’s activities. This helps my brother, whose severe autism means routine is paramount, cope with the unpredictability of day-to-day life.

‘These workers are labelled low-skilled, but they are anything but: it takes empathy, resilience, and emotional intelligence to be a care worker’

You’ll understand, then, that the news that Brexit could mean a UK shortage of nearly 400,000 care workers by 2026 if we leave the EU without a deal on free movement has personal resonance for me. Perhaps it does for you, too: perhaps you have an elderly parent, a disabled relative, or a child who has been released from hospital, and you can’t manage on your own. So an industry reliant on the free movement of EU labour steps in, an industry already suffering from a shortage of 90,000 staff – a vacancy rate of 6.6 per cent – as a result of years of austerity.

Is this crisis what those politicians who spoke of wanting to control our borders were hoping for? As they continue to age, they might find themselves needing care, too. Will it matter to them then in which accent they are greeted and comforted?

We have an ageing population and wages for carers remain shockingly low, with many not being paid for the time spent travelling between visits. In circumstances like these, the question is: who cares? Who will care? This isn’t a looming crisis – it’s already one.

Care workers have been a part of my life

Care workers have been a part of my life since childhood. Growing up with my brother means my family has been helped by a parade of heroes and heroines over the decades. Though largely non-verbal, my brother still remembers them and will say their names, smiling.

Read more in Opinion

Source: When I look at my autistic brother, I’m scared by what he might lose because of Brexit

I’ve been left on trains and called ‘a wheelchair’ – train companies need to improvfully e their treatment of disabled customers

A case in question showing how it is and this is not the exception, but the norm.

Disabled people have a right to be treated equally as with everyone else, they are not the problem. The problem is Society and those who should be there to assist.

The Disability Discrimination Act 2005 (DDA) and amended by the Equality Act 2010 provided access conditions on businesses and operators to provide equal access for persons with disabilities so they can live their lives on a similar basis to those of us who do not have disabilities.

But these acts gave so many concessions to businesses and operators so that in many instances there did not, fully, have to comply.

It is some 13 years since the DDA and some 8 years since the Equality Act, surely sufficient time for all businesses and operators to provide equal access. Why should a person with disabilities have to make extensive plans ahead of venturing out when people with no disabilities can do this, virtually on the spur of the moment.

This is not right and should not be allowed to occur.

Come on the UK, for goodness sakes get your Acts together.

Scope's Blog

This week, BBC Rip Off Britain highlights the experience of disabled passengers on trains. Far too often, inaccessible transport stops disabled people from enjoying the same opportunities as everyone else. In some cases, people have been through stressful and upsetting incidents – from train staff forgetting them to being treated like an object. In this blog, Steph shares her experiences. 

Every day across the UK 100s of disabled people are left stranded on train platforms. As a wheelchair user, I use trains frequently to go to work and to socialise. But, of course, the one thing that I’m constantly aware of when travelling is accessibility.

When it comes to train travel, both locally and nationally, train companies have issues with the way that they deal with disabled people.

If you’re disabled, you always have to plan ahead

I have to plan my journey before I go anywhere in ways that non-disabled…

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