I’m still here. My continued battle with Long Covid and good memories.

No truer words have been published and my heart goes out to Charlotte Hughes and her family.

The Government also play their part in this debate, for all their work is there to discredit benefit claimants, for they make it as difficult as possible to claim benefits. Also, in most instances the assessments that claimants have to undergo add to this discredit of benefit claimants. Assessors have been shown to be producing incorrect assessments and some shown to have deliberately so, but has one assessor been prosecuted for doing so?

I fear not, which if correct is a disgrace.

The Government goes out of its way to make like difficult for vulnerable people, disabled people, the poor and sick, etc.

then, this Government and many previous Governments have deliberately kept Social Care short of fun ding, so it is not just welfare benefits they are using to make like difficult for persons in need, but also Social Care, which they require to live a reasonable life.

Governments have made numerous promises to provide the correct funding for Social Care and to solve many of the other problems, but to date, they have not done so. So, Social Care continues to slide greater into crisis and there will come a time, if it has not already been reached when the failure to solve the crisis will cause, not only distress and pain, but the ultimate, death.

It could be argued that in the COVID-19 pandemic this failure to solve the Social Care crisis as already created deaths, a great stain on this Government.

To bring this to the attention of everyone, especially the Government I created the petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care,

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

Please view the petition and, if you agree, please sign and share.

But funding is not the only problem, even if it is the main problems, so, if you wish for further information please see,

https://1drv.ms/w/s!Aq2MsYduiazgoEy6ROxeV0abd2mT?e=tA03zo

Thank you

Chris Sterry

#care #socialcare #crisis

The poor side of life

Dear readers an extra blog post from me, I hope that you don’t mind.

I’ve been a tad quiet recently because my recovery has been set right back.

My daughter unknowingly brought home a nasty virus with her when she returned home from school about two weeks ago.

What would normally would have been a slight cold etc completely floored me. I was forced to retreat back to bed.

I really hated having to retreat to bed because I wanted to be out and about and I had plans to do ‘stuff’.

I’m now out of bed but I’m coughing a lot and I can’t get my stats above 94 to 96. I’m also experiencing the return of the stabbing pains.

Yes I know that I should go back to the hospital and I will do when I’m financially able to do so. Shite happens and I’ve got to learn…

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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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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

 

 

Lockdown has brought families of learning disabled people to their knees | Learning disability | 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 | Learning disability | The Guardian

Agency social workers’ turnover and pay agreements ‘not beneficial’ : Community Care

Four in ten English councils lack confidence they will have enough social workers to meet their needs over the next year, as the vast majority struggle to recruit experienced practitioners, a government study has found. Thirty two per cent of directors of children’s services (DCSs) said they were ‘not very confident’ that they would have enough […]

Source: Agency social workers’ turnover and pay agreements ‘not beneficial’ : Community Care

Welsh Mother Barbara MacArthur, 93, Talks About Being A Carer After Her Guardian Letter Goes Viral JULY 30, 2020

This is caring in the UK in the 21st century, while it is more akin to the 18th.

It should not be this way and Yes, Coronavirus, is the cause to some degree, but not all.

Social Care has been seriously under-funding for years, well before coronavirus and also, before austerity. Both have done their best to bring Social Care down, but Social Care was under-funded in 2010, due to many previous Governments not taking social care seriously and therefore never funding it sufficiently.

Now, social care, is not only seriously short of funding, but also staff to provide the care.

Many factors are the cause, one being the abysmal rate of pay to carers, which for many is only on or just above the National Living Wage and for those under 25 years, the National Minimum Wage.

Carers in many areas, especially the Government are classed as ‘unskilled, which is completely wrong, if care is being delivered correctly, which it always should be, but not in some instances.

Other factors include ‘conditions of employment, travel expenses, holiday and sick pay to mention a few.

As in the NHS, without non-UK workers, social care would be virtually non-existent, but the new regulations being put forward will make it more difficult for non-UK workers to come to the UK to working the Care Profession.

During the Coronavirus pandemic much has been said abot care workers in relation to care homes, but social care extends to more than care homes, for there is home care, supported living, respite, hospices, etc and all are affected.

This Governments as was the case with previous Governments. appear to be incapable to understand the problem or is it they do not wish to.

To have social care and health care separate is a recipe for disaster as we can all see, therefore all care needs to be under the same organisation and a means of funding needs to be found.

But what we do not need is for social care to be treated as a ‘political football’, to be kicked away when the Government wishes, as Governments have done to many areas that it finances to some degree over the years, the Health Service being just one, but there are many others.

Social Care is seriously in crisis and that is why I created the petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care, https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solve-the-crisis-in-social-care

More information, which contains much of the above can be found at https://www.dropbox.com/s/v8h8caytwwh3beq/Solve%20the%20crisis%20in%20Social%20Care%20%208.docx?dl=0

I do not trust this Government, in fact any Government, but especially this one so Social Care needs YOU, please show your support for Social Care by signing the petition and then sharing.

#care #socialcare #crisis

Same Difference

For more than half a century, Barbara MacArthur, one of the first female police officers in south Wales, has worked countless, long, unpaid hours as a carer.

In the 1960s she began looking after her ailing parents in her small terraced house in Cardiff and now, aged 93 and frail herself, she continues to care for her 66-year-old disabled son, Howard. The pair live on the cramped ground floor of the house because neither can make it up the stairs.

MacArthur has always approached her caring duties with stoicism and good humour – until this week. The coronavirus crisis prompted her to write a heartbreaking letter to the Guardian in which she spelled out her fight for survival, argued that the care system was broken and said she wished she had the time to feel lonely.

Speaking on the doorstep of her home on Thursday, with Howard occasionally putting…

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Austerity ‘ripped resilience out of health and care service’ before Covid-19 crisis hit, says IPPR | Care Industry News

Underinvestment in social and community care left four in five hospitals with ‘dangerously low’ spare beds as crisis hit

Major new analysis of the state of the health and care system in England in the run up to the Covid-19 pandemic today reveals the extent of the crisis that was facing medics and carers even before the crisis hit.

Source: Austerity ‘ripped resilience out of health and care service’ before Covid-19 crisis hit, says IPPR | Care Industry News

 

 

The NHS taking over social care would be a disaster. Make services truly local instead | Social care | The Guardian

Covid-19 has exacerbated the social care crisis – but a national service isn’t the answer

Source: The NHS taking over social care would be a disaster. Make services truly local instead | Social care | The Guardian

Coronavirus: Above-inflation pay rise for almost 900,000 public sector workers – BBC News

Doctors, teachers and police officers are among those who will get a salary increase of up to 3.1%.

Source: Coronavirus: Above-inflation pay rise for almost 900,000 public sector workers – BBC News

 

A welcome pay rise for the selected Public Sector Workers, but it raises many issues.

1. funded from current budgets, which are not sufficient for other costs and the pay rise

2. Not all NHS staff are included and all were essential and still are during this pandemic, including Nurses, domestics porters, etc

3. again no mention of Social Care, which again is the forgotten care service,. Social Care is even more under-funded than the NHS and the care workers are still not being recognised for the work they did before, during and currently. This is more than a disgrace from this Government and just show the true Government feeling towards Social Care and Social Care workers

4. no mention of the many family carers who care for their relatives for no pay, already saving the UK over £130 billion and increasing, for the Carers Allowance is a joke both with regards to the amount paid and the severe restrictions on eligibility, including no allowance being paid to family carers who have retired from paid work, but still spend most of their time caring for their relatives. Again a complete disgrace and the Government, again, showing their contempt for both Social Care and family carers.

5. my petition, Solve the crisis in Social Care is more than relevant now, https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/solve-the-crisis-in-social-care

With more information at https://www.dropbox.com/s/v8h8caytwwh3beq/Solve%20the%20crisis%20in%20Social%20Care%20%208.docx?dl=0

Social Care needs you NOW