Legal rights for carers

xXchelleXx

Registered User
Feb 7, 2016
7
0
Hi, I need to outline the legal right of a carer with dementia and was wondering if anyone can help me with this please? Thanks in advance x
 

Beate

Registered User
May 21, 2014
12,179
0
London
Are you asking us to do your homework for you - again? Whatever happened to googling?
 

Sue J

Registered User
Dec 9, 2009
8,032
0
Welcome to TP xxchellexx, there are many people on here who will be very interested to know what you come up with as am sure many feel that their rights are constantly compromised as they struggle to get help for their loved ones.
 

Kevinl

Registered User
Aug 24, 2013
6,057
0
Salford
Sorry is "a carer with dementia" someone with dementia who is a carer or do you mean a carer for a person with dementia?
K
 

xXchelleXx

Registered User
Feb 7, 2016
7
0
Welcome to TP xxchellexx, there are many people on here who will be very interested to know what you come up with as am sure many feel that their rights are constantly compromised as they struggle to get help for their loved ones.

X
 

xXchelleXx

Registered User
Feb 7, 2016
7
0
Are you asking us to do your homework for you - again? Whatever happened to googling?

And Beate for your information I am 37 years old doing some research as a new carer at a dementia home. I was was given this site as somewhere to turn. To learn more and get advice. With comments like yours as a new member I feel very uncomfortable with being here. So thank you for making me feel welcome! And yes I've googled but thought oh why not ask someone who is mote of an expert than google
 

Grannie G

Volunteer Moderator
Apr 3, 2006
81,445
0
Kent
Hello xXchelleXx

Welcome to Talking Point.

I`m pleased this site has been recommended to you but I doubt the person recommending it expected hard pressed , stressed and emotionally drained carers to respond to your queries in detail.

There is a wealth of information in the pages of Talking Point and I`m sure you will find what you need, just by reading.

Can I also recommend Alzheimer`s Society`s Factsheets.

http://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/faq.php?faq=resources#faq_resources_factsheets

I`m going to move your Thread to the sub section for those doing research.
 

Shedrech

Registered User
Dec 15, 2012
12,649
0
UK
Hi xXchelleXx
I'm not sure that Beate is being unwelcoming - I believe you're studying for an NVQ and I too find it a little unsettling that your course handbook doesn't deal with this - or is it a project you have been set?

We as carers are certainly 'at the chalk face' but as Sue J says we often wonder ourselves exactly what our 'rights' are - they seem to shift from LA to LA and from situation to situation - and often we seem to have no rights at all - same goes for those with dementia - usually feels as though our responsibilities far outweigh our rights, too
We work with every day explanations on the whole - not textbook definitions

I wonder, too, if there's a difference between how the rights of 'informal' carers who are family/friends are seen/defined and those who are formally employed in the care sector, as you are

so you see an apparently simple question given to a student just isn't that straightforward when you are living the role of carer

I really hope you let us know your findings
 
Last edited:

Sue J

Registered User
Dec 9, 2009
8,032
0
And Beate for your information I am 37 years old doing some research as a new carer at a dementia home. I was was given this site as somewhere to turn. To learn more and get advice. With comments like yours as a new member I feel very uncomfortable with being here. So thank you for making me feel welcome! And yes I've googled but thought oh why not ask someone who is mote of an expert than google

Hi xxchellexx

It is good that you have been made aware of this site as you will find a wealth of information when you get chance to read it. Is the home for permanent residents or does it provide respite also? No doubt, as a new carer, you have been thrown in at the deep end and any carer for a dementia sufferer/s is on a high learning curve.

People are very supportive on this site but it is not all of the time people come on here for the right reasons but hope you stick around and you will learn a lot.
Best wishes
Sue:)
 

Beate

Registered User
May 21, 2014
12,179
0
London
Please try to understand: If you were a fellow informal carer in a tizzy needing to find out your legal rights in a fight with social services, I'd gladly try to find out what I could even if I had to google it as well. But I don't have time to help someone with their coursework. Sorry if that offends you but I believe your studies should be your own.

However, if you encounter a practical problem in your work as a carer, many people will be glad to share their personal experiences of the same issue, because we have experienced problems to do with caring for a loved one many times over.
 

xXchelleXx

Registered User
Feb 7, 2016
7
0
Thank you for your replies,

Firstly I apologise if I sounded rude in my reply. I felt a little offended by the comment as you probably noticed.

I do admire anyone who is a carer for a family member.

I have always been keen on learning about dementia since my first job as a late teen. I've since grown up raised children and am back in work to a job that I really love. In the short time I have been in my job role I have been through so much. Working with 20 dementia residents, I have nursed people who have passed, been hit, spat at kicked, punched, kissed and hugged been told how wonderful at what I do. I find what I do rewarding and I wouldn't change a bit.

I sometimes find it hard, most family members are great but we have some that are not so great, will put you down. It's quite upsetting as I am the one who cares for there mum or dad, I get them up, wash and dress them, feed them, sit with them, cuddle them when they are lonely, tuck them in bed kiss them good night and I'm normally the ones who are with them to the end. :( this is rare with families and it's usually the ones who come in once a year. I am sorry if this sounds harsh but I am quite passionate about what I do.

I do hope to stick around as I have so much I can learn from, I am doing my NVQ but my question in general was just a question. I have never really understood my rights as being a carer, apart from the usual legislation stuff.

Thanks for taking the time to reply
 

Sue J

Registered User
Dec 9, 2009
8,032
0
It is good that there are people like you who are passionate about working with dementia sufferers, you are much needed and as someone who nursed before my own symptoms I know something of what you have experienced, in fact those memories are most vivid to me than yesterday's!. I a sure it is hard especially with relatives that don't visit often as you are unable to build up any relationship with them and they are often ridden with guilt at their loved one being in a home, sorry they take it out on you:(

I wonder whether the question you have been set is something to do with the new Carers Act, don't quote me but I think something went through Parliament in 2014 giving carers legal rights but am not sure that many of us have noticed that filtering down into their daily lives yet.

Stick around:)
 

garnuft

Registered User
Sep 7, 2012
6,585
0
'I'm normally the ones who are with them to the end'

Who is this 'them'?

You intrude, with offence, on aching hearts and weary backs.


Sent from my iPhone using Talking Point
 

nita

Registered User
Dec 30, 2011
2,651
0
Essex
I think you are talking specifically about your own role as a "care worker"?

You might find this helpful though it doesn't relate particularly to people working with dementia patients and is more to do with employment conditions:-

https://www.crunch.co.uk/blog/contr...26/care-workers-what-are-your-rights-at-work/

Do you have a more specific question as I feel you have a dilemma about something related to dealing with dementia patients in particular?
 

Kevinl

Registered User
Aug 24, 2013
6,057
0
Salford
So is it the rights of someone employed as a carer you're asking about?
If so I'm not aware of any employment law that applies specifically to carers, nor an I aware of any specific rights to do anything.
Any example of what you might mean specifically?
I have had plenty of time to admire the work carers do since my wife was sectioned a month or so ago they're some of the hardest working people I've ever seen, I've seen them; kicked, punched and bitten, sworn at and they just bounce right back so I have no beef with care workers I just don't understand what "rights" one might want.
K
 

garnuft

Registered User
Sep 7, 2012
6,585
0
There are Carers and then there are Care workers...they are not the same.


Sent from my iPhone using Talking Point
 

nita

Registered User
Dec 30, 2011
2,651
0
Essex
I think the OP is referring to herself as a care worker in a home for those with dementia. Correct me if I'm wrong. I would have thought that as a paid carer you have employment rights but also responsibilities and it is the residents, being ill and vulnerable, whose rights are of over-riding importance and legislation exists to protect those rights.
 

Kevinl

Registered User
Aug 24, 2013
6,057
0
Salford
There are Carers and then there are Care workers...they are not the same.

Probably that's a good working distinction between those who work in the care industry and those who do it for love rather than for money.
k
 

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