Hi all,
mancmum, thanks for the info - trying to carve out time to get around to contacting radio 4, just a bit hectic at the moment.
Contacted by the head of care for the elderly again yesterday - she was supposed to phone me on Monday, but had been held up waiting for finance to confirm funding for respite beds.
As part of a pilot scheme, last 6 months, just ONE respite bed has been commissioned, in the sister home to the EMI home where Mil attends day care. One bookable bed for the whole area is so little - but I guess its better than what we had this time last month. The head of elderly care was actually really nice and semed keen to improve the situation round here, and I am hoping she took on board what I said about actually informing carers that a respite bed is now available - I am concerned that carer's wont find out about the availability and that it won't be continued if there isn't a good 'uptake' on bookings. As Carers have been told that for nearly 2 years that respite isn't available, they won't now go looking unless they know that its now available - albeit in a very limited form!
She also said that they are looking to I guess 're-vamp' dementia services in the area. Again, I was told that there is funding, and she said she wants to make sure that what they are able to offer is actually useful to carers and caree's alike. We talked briefly about issues with some day care facilities only offering 3 or 4 hour sessions, issues around transport to and from day care, we touched briefly on the lack of dementia knowledge with some medical professionals, about the false image of demetia that is portrayed too often in the media - and (more during the previous conversation I had with her) about the pitfalls of the now common place use of agencies, the lack of continuity, reliability and a lot of the other issues. She has asked could she contact me for information and feedback as she hopes to get a 'new' approach in place - and, of course, I said yes. She struck me as sincere, so I am really, really hoping that there will be some changes in this area - and if this area can do it, there is simply no excuse for anywhere else not to make an effort too!
mancmum, thanks for the info - trying to carve out time to get around to contacting radio 4, just a bit hectic at the moment.
Contacted by the head of care for the elderly again yesterday - she was supposed to phone me on Monday, but had been held up waiting for finance to confirm funding for respite beds.
As part of a pilot scheme, last 6 months, just ONE respite bed has been commissioned, in the sister home to the EMI home where Mil attends day care. One bookable bed for the whole area is so little - but I guess its better than what we had this time last month. The head of elderly care was actually really nice and semed keen to improve the situation round here, and I am hoping she took on board what I said about actually informing carers that a respite bed is now available - I am concerned that carer's wont find out about the availability and that it won't be continued if there isn't a good 'uptake' on bookings. As Carers have been told that for nearly 2 years that respite isn't available, they won't now go looking unless they know that its now available - albeit in a very limited form!
She also said that they are looking to I guess 're-vamp' dementia services in the area. Again, I was told that there is funding, and she said she wants to make sure that what they are able to offer is actually useful to carers and caree's alike. We talked briefly about issues with some day care facilities only offering 3 or 4 hour sessions, issues around transport to and from day care, we touched briefly on the lack of dementia knowledge with some medical professionals, about the false image of demetia that is portrayed too often in the media - and (more during the previous conversation I had with her) about the pitfalls of the now common place use of agencies, the lack of continuity, reliability and a lot of the other issues. She has asked could she contact me for information and feedback as she hopes to get a 'new' approach in place - and, of course, I said yes. She struck me as sincere, so I am really, really hoping that there will be some changes in this area - and if this area can do it, there is simply no excuse for anywhere else not to make an effort too!