According to a leaflet I’ve just been emailed, extra support for unpaid carers should be provided for the extra work that they are doing?!
Can anyone tell me if they have had extra support??
Can Carers UK tell us what this “extra support” is supposed to consist of???
I suspect I have had ‘extra support’ in the form of unwanted phone calls checking on S’s wellbeing - however these have had a negative effect as they irritate me immensely. I don’t wish to discuss him with a person I don’t know on the telephone. If I need advice re S I would ask people who actually know HIM, not those who think they know him just because they work in social care/ LD health services etc However, I’m sure they then tick a box to say they have given us support!!
Melly1
Extra support, i haven’t had any support let alone extra support, so how do i get support and this extra support.
In effect i was doing a lot of the paid carers jobs so in fact i was supporting the carers agency, they were getting paid to provide the support, but could not provide the support.
I was supporting the GP by providing a free taxi service to his patients, collecting prescriptions and making sure his patients took their tablets.
I was supporting Social Services by providing breaks to other unpaid carers so they could have an evening off, go out for a meal or go to the cinema.
So how do i access support and the extra support? I have no idea.
That’s why I’m asking. It seemed to me that SSD used the virus as the perfect excuse not to do much!!
None whatsoever… I have to say if anything there has been less not more through out this
I really think this needs looking into by Carers UK, being an unpaid carer over 20 years i have heard and learnt so much.
I have read in a magazines that one set of parents get 10 nights respite a month, how? i have been told that night respite is not available.
And night care is not available but i have seen people on my street receiving night care, but night care is not available, yes it is.
A lady on my estate gets regular time at a respite centre, but i have been told that respite is not available.
I and many other unpaid carers know the address of this respite centre, but respite is not available.
Parents looking after their son, get 2 afternoons a week off, a carer comes to the house and takes their son out, shopping or the cinema or the ice rink, where ever he wants to go.
But i have been told this is not available, yes it is.
So what is going on here what is the criteria for getting breaks, respite and night care, i am told none of this exists, there is no money.
What are our rights to a break or respite or night care, just been told you have to pay for it yourselves.
If i was receiving carers allowance then maybe i could pay, but i don’t get a penny carers allowance.
NYCC are committed to make sure unpaid carers are supported and get regular breaks, but i am not getting support and have not have any breaks.
Is there guidance on all this? I am sure i have read about money allocated by the government given to councils to pay for carers breaks.
How much money is there to provide help and support for unpaid carers, can we find out through the freedom of information act?
Helen Walker, chief executive of Carers UK, said: “Without a shadow of a doubt unpaid carers are bearing the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic – providing extraordinary hours of care for family members with significantly reduced help from formal services, and at an enormous cost to their own health and finances.”
Read more: Unpaid carers 'exhausted' and unable to take breaks during the pandemic - Which? News - Which?
How long is this next virus “wave” going to last?
Every service cut means more work for unpaid carers!