Social Care Cuts

[Ally]

I have never, ever joined in a thread, far less started one, about the social care in Britain.

I've just watched a story on Sky news that has reduced me to tears.

A blind, practically deaf lady was explaining that her council, due to cuts, have now deprived her of the 4 hours a week care that she used to have.

4 hours!!

The young lady was filmed going to make herself some toast, the cameras watched as she 'felt' her way round to get the bread etc.

Due to council cuts she has no carer to tell her that her bread was mouldy, (obviously she could smell it was off as she took it out the wrapper) no carer to tell her how dirty her floors were, and no carer to come in for those 4 hours a week and just be a bit of company for her.

Why is this being allowed to happen?
Who is it that deems her needs to be so little that they deny her already paltry 4 hours?

I know I don't live in the UK any more..but most of my family and friends do so I obviously still care about what happens there.
(I'm just stating this so's I don't open a can of worms for myself. I would hate to receive a backlash of comments. Not from the normal VV traffic I hasten to add.)

It just made me sad to watch this.

[debih]

This is pathetically sad isn't it Ally.

The cuts that are being made are harming the most vulnerable of people.

My sister is a carer and she was saying that although her hours haven't been cut, she is now spending less time with people than before - she is still doing the same hours as she has more people.

She is going to the most needy in her own time as she knows that they cannot cope without someone going in every day.

I hate to think what things will be like in a few years time - the money will be less and the elderly population will have grown even more.

[Diflower]

It's appalling Ally, everything is cut, cut, cut.
There are so many examples but it's still getting worse

[KateLMead]

Shocking! Yes this is the state of the ark. reduced hours 30 minutes for individuals and charges for shopping etc first came to pass when Labour was in power.
My sister in law was a carer.
Is it not interesting and a convenient time for this latest abominable situation that Falconer and his cohorts are fighting to bring in called voluntary euthanasia for the aged and disabled... Voluntary? I doubt it!!! I wrote about this on my last post on the subject.
Sick ! Sick! Sick! how long will the British public stand by and do nothing.. Will this law also include ethnics (I very much doubt it!!)

[Workingman]

This is what I was ranting at in my "I lost £55 billion" thread when I said: "talk about aiming at the easy target."

The government loses the money hand over fist through fraud, inefficiency and sheer mismanagement, and it hardly gets reported. One of the chancellor's brilliant ideas to mitigate some of this disaster is to cut the welfare budget to the tune of £12 billion, and that hardly gets a mention either.

This story on Sky, showing that half a million vulnerable people have already been cut out of the system, is only an indication of how bad things are going to get when the new cuts come in, and guess what, it is hardly being reported outside of Sky!

The media is quick to jump on the never-to-be-kept promises made by the political parties in the run up to the election, but sweeps this kind of thing under the carpet. It makes me sick.

[saundra]

doesent bear thinking about
and in the DM this morning a report about how much aid
we give to china and the rest of the world
and aid that was given to the phillipines is on sale in markets
digusting
its pointless giving to these big charites
with there huge wage packets and office blocks
give to small local ones hospices and such (rant over)

[cromwell]

It is bad. Some of the problems lie with the councils as well as the government. We have a massive vanity project in Wakefield called "The Hepworth". A very nice art gallery (though some may say it looks like a cement works from the outside). One local councillor tried to find out how it was being funded and couldn't. I'd love to know how much public money has been spent on it.
Care of the elderly and vulnerable is being cut back. Old people's sheltered housing in my old village was shut down a few years ago and the land sold for housing; the same thing has happened on Ings Road in Wakefield just recently. Old people's bungalows knocked down and the land sold off to build flats. My wife's parents (86 and 87) really need a bungalow now as they are not too steady on their feet and the stairs in their terrace are very steep; in the whole of the Wakefield MDC area last week there were only 6 available, all miles from where they have always lived.

[Kaz]

Ally there are countless stories like this every week here.............The gap between the have's and have not's getting wider and wider It's appalling.................

There are stories about people having to choose whether to heat the house, or eat................That's how it is in the UK in 2013

[Aggers]

I don't know what the answer is.

There are, of course, many sides to this business. Too many people today are only too ready to fiddle the system
and get benefits they are not entitled to, thereby using up valuable money. Also, there was a time when families
took it upon themselves to look after their elderly relatives, but now the State is expected to do that job. But times
have changed things, and Councils and social workers must find it frustrating to provide the service really required.

If we had a Government capable of thinking things out and acting responsibly, then the situation might be better, but,
alas, that requirement is sadly lacking.

[Workingman]

Also, there was a time when families took it upon themselves to look after their elderly relatives, but now the State is expected to do that job.

A pertinent point Aggers.

I lived and worked in Germany and France for many years, and my next door neighbours when I was young were Italian. As far as I can tell their society structure revolves around "family" and Gran'ma and Gran'dad are not seen as burdens, but valued members. I wonder how much that cultural heritage saves those countries in social welfare and even allows families access to funds we now put into "care businesses"?

My Gran was with us till the day she died. I love my son and daughter, and would do anything for them, but I do not see either of them looking after me in my dotage. That is sad, but it is what we have come to.