I am new to Talking Point and realize that there is so much more knowlege here than I already have, despite being full-time and only carer for my partner, diagnosed with Alzheimer's more than six years ago. My comments here are directed at carers in England.
BBC Radio 4 has invited listeners to contribute their experiences to a programme they are planning to broadcast soon.
Please let the world know how bad it is by e-mailing the programme with your experiences. I have found that most people have no idea of the problems for patients and their carers; "Oh I keep forgetting things too" is the usual crass comment I get on the subject of Alzheimer's.
It is doubly important to get the information out there into the public domain as the Government is apparently reviewing care provision and it is clear to me that the right to free medical care on the NHS is being undermined by defining needs as "social" which, if provided by the authorities at all, is subject to means tests and assessment by an army of box-ticking social workers. As the need for social care is one of the symptoms of the disease, why should it not come under the heading of medical care and be assessed by doctors?
And why should carers looking after their loved ones not receive a wage? Carers allowance is not paid to old age pensioners, yet the care, if provided in a care home, would cost several hundred pounds a week and would have to come out of the public purse once the patient's and carer's own savings had been confiscated.
Please send some the experiences you have been recounting here to your local council and your member of parliament.
BBC Radio 4 has invited listeners to contribute their experiences to a programme they are planning to broadcast soon.
Please let the world know how bad it is by e-mailing the programme with your experiences. I have found that most people have no idea of the problems for patients and their carers; "Oh I keep forgetting things too" is the usual crass comment I get on the subject of Alzheimer's.
It is doubly important to get the information out there into the public domain as the Government is apparently reviewing care provision and it is clear to me that the right to free medical care on the NHS is being undermined by defining needs as "social" which, if provided by the authorities at all, is subject to means tests and assessment by an army of box-ticking social workers. As the need for social care is one of the symptoms of the disease, why should it not come under the heading of medical care and be assessed by doctors?
And why should carers looking after their loved ones not receive a wage? Carers allowance is not paid to old age pensioners, yet the care, if provided in a care home, would cost several hundred pounds a week and would have to come out of the public purse once the patient's and carer's own savings had been confiscated.
Please send some the experiences you have been recounting here to your local council and your member of parliament.
