15/10/2012
Jon Cuthill works as a carer at a specialist dementia unit in the New Forest investigating how we care for our elderly, and Mark Easton comes up with some innovative solutions to the problems of an aging population.
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Action lines and support
If you or anyone you know is affected by the issues raised in the Inside Out: Elderly care special, the following agencies, charities and organisations may be available to help.
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Age UK
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Age UK aims to improve later life for everyone by providing information and advice, and getting involved in campaigns, training and research.
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Advice line: 0800 1696565.ΜύThe line is open 8am - 7pm 365 days a year.
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Carers UK
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Carers UK is a charity set up to help people who care for family or friends. It provides information and advice about caring as well as practical and emotional support for carers.
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Carers Trust
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Carers Trust works to improve support, services and recognition for anyone living with the challenges of caring, unpaid, for a family member or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or addiction problems. With its partners it aims to ensure that information, advice and practical support are available to all carers across the UK.
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Relatives & Residents Association
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The Relatives and Residents Association provides information and support to families and friends who find themselves having to deal with helping their loved ones make the move into a residential home. It also raises concerns about the care that those in need of care are already receiving.
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Contact - 020 7359 8136, weekdays 09.30-16.30, or email info@relres.org
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FirstStop
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First Stop offers free, independent information and advice on all aspects of care and housing for older people. Its service includes housing, care, finance and rights.
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Contact - 0800 377 7070 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
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Action on Elder Abuse
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Action on Elder Abuse works to protect, and prevent the abuse of, vulnerable older adults.
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Helpline - 0808 808 8141
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Dementia UK
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Dementia UK is a national charity, committed to improving quality of life for all people affected by dementia. It provides practical and emotional support to family carers of people with dementia.
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Contact - 0845 257 9406 (Tuesdays/Thursdays 11:00-20:45 and Saturdays 10:00-13:00) or email direct@dementiauk.org
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Alzheimerβs Society
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Alzheimer's Society is a leading support and research charity for people with dementia, their families and carers.
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The Society provides information and support to people with any form of dementia and their carers through its publications, National Dementia Helpline, website and more than 2,000 local services throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It campaigns for improved standards of care and greater understanding of dementia.
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Helpline β 0300 222 1122. Advisors are available Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 6.30pm.
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Community schemes
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The following schemes covered in the Inside Out elderly care special may also be of interest:
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Care 4 Care
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ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔshare International
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Share and Care
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Hartrigg Oaks Retirement Village
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Elderly care in crisis?
Former cabinet minister David Blunkett has warned that families, neighbours and βyounger older peopleβ will have to take a more active role in caring for people in their old age.
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Mr Blunkett, who served as Work and Pensions Secretary under Tony Blair, told the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔβs Inside Out programme that a political solution to the problem of paying for elderly care was unlikely to emerge.
He said that raising taxes to pay for care was βridiculous politically because nobody will touch it with a barge poleβ and that politicians are βscared of arguing about tax and spendβ.
He added: βWe need an imaginative, joined-up, holistic answer that mobilises and supports families with caring, that gets the community involved, that gets βyounger olderβ people who are still active as part of the solution. This is about society as a whole rather than a financial cost[β¦] Itβs essential because the money wonβt be available to do it in any other way."
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Inside Out examines the problem of spiralling costs in elderly care. ΜύWith many of us living longer is the challenge of providing care reaching crisis point?
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The ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔβs ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Editor Mark Easton examines some of the radical solutions that are being tested around the UK to help tackle the elderly care crisis.
These include the Isle of Wightβs innovative βCare4Careβ scheme β where neighbours bank care credits for the time they spend helping elderly neighbours which they can then spend on their own care later in life.Μύ
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Mark also visits a happy βhomeshareβ in Essex and a unique retirement village in Yorkshire.
Costs of elderly care in the south
"He fought for his country abroad and at home, he was hospitalised during the war and then they take his money. I get so annoyed when I think about it because I think it's so unfair."
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Roger Paling has to pay about Β£1,000 a week for his dad Howard's residential care in the New Forest.
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With his pension he manages to stay out of debt but he says it is not easy.
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"He worked from 16 to 75 and then they tried to take his money. But fortunately by that time he didn't have any so we use his pension and that's how close to the line it is," he said.
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"I think it's terrible after he paid in all this time."
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on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News England website.
Care4Care elderly care scheme
Over the last six months, 36-year-old Lewis Jenkins has been looking after his 87-year-old neighbour, Pearl Bradshaw.
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In that time he has spent about 20 hours helping her around the home, doing her shopping and keeping her company.
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These are hours that he can "bank" and then "collect" later, when he is in need.
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It is all part of a pilot scheme on the Isle of Wight called Care4Care which is being run in partnership with Age UK's Good Neighbour project.
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on the ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ News Hampshire website.
Mark Easton blog
Mark Easton examines some of the radical solutions being tested around England to help tackle the elderly care crisis.
on his correspondent web pages.
Credits
Role | Contributor |
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Presenter | Jon Cuthill |
Director | Jane Goddard |
Series Producer | Jane French |
Broadcast
- Mon 15 Oct 2012 19:30ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ One South & Oxfordshire only