Reminder – Panorama and Dispatches Monday July 30th

Britain on the Sick  channel 4 Mon 30th July 8pm  watch here

Using undercover filming, reporter Jackie Long investigates the shocking processes used to assess whether sickness and disability benefit claimants should be declared fit for work.

 

Disabled or Faking It?   Mon 8.30pm  watch here

Panorama investigates the government’s plans to end the so-called ‘sick note
culture’ and their attempts to get millions of people off disability benefits
and into work. In Britain’s modern welfare state, millions are being paid to
private companies to assess sick and disabled claimants but is the system
working? Or are new tests wrongly victimising those who deserve support the
most?

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Stop and review the cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families

sign Pats Petition here  and share with others

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Caroline Lucas writes to Chris Grayling re Accessibility of Work Capability Assessment Year 3 call for evidence

Received from Caroline Lucas’s office

Update

Since Caroline sent her email the DWP has put up a rich text version of the questionnaire but there are still no links to Easy Read, BSL Videos, Audio versions as there were in 2011.

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To Chris Grayling, Minister for Employment, DWP.

Dear Chris,

No doubt you will be aware of the very valid concern that this year’s call for evidence on the Work Capability Assessment is much less accessible than last year’s.
I have pasted a copy of the email extract that has been sent to me that shows the concern about this matter.

A comparison of this year’s website with last year’s shows the DWP has taken away provision of links to the Easy Read, BSL Videos, Audio version, and has not provided a rich text response form.  This seems to be going backwards and is both unacceptable and extremely disappointing.

For ease of reference and comparison the l inks to this year’s and last year’s websites are here:

This year’s call

Last year’s call

Can you tell me the reason for this lowering of the care and consideration given to ensuring accessibility?  I should also be grateful if you could take action to ensure that the same standard of accessibility that was offered in 2011 is offered now and that the 2012 Year 3 call web page is updated to provide the same level of accessibility as last year.

I am also concerned that this year, there is one less week to respond.  Last year’s dates were 14 July – 16 Sept, this year it’s 12 July – 7 Sept.  Can you tell me why the time has been shortened by a week?  Given that the consultation dates are over the summer holidays, I would have thought that it would be logical to extend the time given to allow for the fact that people are likely to be away and so may have less opportunity to respond.

Dementia friendly Communities – your views wanted

Received from DementiaUK

On March 26th, the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Health launched a new challenge on dementia, the aim of which is to deliver major improvements in dementia care and research. A key focus of this initiative is the creation of dementia friendly communities across England over the next few years.

In a recent poll only 5% said that society is geared up to deal with people who have dementia. This figure points to a massive challenge and a call to action across the whole of society to create dementia friendly communities that understand how to help. 

The Department of Health are therefore very interested in understanding the views of family carers on creating dementia friendly communities, in particular the following issues:

• What could be done to raise awareness and understanding of dementia within communities?
• What barriers do people with dementia and their carers face when wanting to participate and access services in their local community?
• What changes should organisations make in order to become dementia friendly?
• What should communities do to make their area more dementia friendly? Which bodies and organisations should be responsible?
• What should be the main factors to determine whether a city, town, or village is dementia friendly?
• What examples of dementia friendly communities are already going on? What changes or initiatives have made a big difference?

If you would like to share your views on this issue then please use the following link, where you can leave comments and also read the views of other people: http://dementiachallenge.dh.gov.uk/2012/05/28/dementiafriendlyquestion/ The site will be closed on 31st July, but already there are several comments which have generated discussion.

We do hope this is of interest to you and that you can take the time to go to the website. If you do respond then please let us know so we can invite you to similar opportunities in the future.

 

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MDC Trailblazers Investigation in to Northern Rail

Received from David Gale - Trailblazers,  Cumbria Regional Ambassador

 I am contacting you all as I am currently in the process of investigating Northern Rail and you all fall within the areas Northern  Rail covers.

Basically I would like to know your experiences or any feedback you have in relation to the services they have provided to you all in the past. For example the Carlisle to Newcastle Tyne Valley line suffers from trains with poor wheelchair spaces, toilets that can’t even fit most wheelchairs in them and trains that haven’t been refurbished since the late 1980′s. The staff in my personal experience have always been helpful to me but I would also like to know good and bad customer service from staff also.

I hope to present information to the chief executive and see what they plan to do with my findings.

Thanks for all your help and I look forward to hearing more from you all.

Regards.

Dave

2011 Muscular Dystrophy Campaign Campaigner of the year

If you can assist Dave please contact him at – david.gale1983@gmail.com

DPAC and Independent Living Fund

The Future of the Independent Living Fund (ILF)

This consultation  seeks views on the impact that closing the Independent Living Fund (ILF) in 2015 would have on users, local authorities and the wider care and support systems across the UK. The Government would also like your views on how closure could be managed in a way which would minimise disruption to the care and support needs of existing ILF users.

DPAC are campaigning strongly about this. See further details below and on their website here

Responses to ILF consultation

The Failing Local Authority Care System

How Henwood and Hudson 2007 fails to provide adequate justification for closure of the Independent Living Fund

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Stephen Green plays ‘Love Me Tender’ in memory of his mum

CarerWatch are delighted to share this story with you sent by Stephen’s dad Grenville.

AS Stephen Green played the final notes of Love Me Tender the applause was immediate and rapturous.

Heaving a big sigh of relief and satisfaction the 47-year-old looked around the room and smiled.

 

full story in this is Nottingham

Videos of Stephen playing can be found here

 

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CarerWatch response to Social Care White Paper

CarerWatch  members are outraged that the Coalition government has failed to address one of the most important factors of Social care, that is funding of any future system. The release of the White Paper for Social Care was akin to a damp squib. It promised so much but delivered so little.

The care system is breaking now and it was vital that this paper brought forth real solutions to real problems. By failing to explore the funding of care in full they have missed a golden opportunity to bring about true reform, and consequently have severely compromised what this White Paper will be able to achieve.

In this climate of benefit cuts, care charges increasing, tightening eligibility criteria – concerns are growing on how people will pay for their care.

This White Paper does nothing to alleviate those worries.

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Stop and review the cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families

Sign petition here and share asking others to do same

.

Work Capability Assessment – Year 3 call for evidence

As part of his third independent review of the Work Capability Assessment, Professor Harrington has launched a call for evidence.

He is particularly interested in views and evidence about the implementation of his recommendations and any changes to:

• communications.
• face-to-face assessment.
• decision making.

Who this call for evidence is aimed at

This call for evidence is aimed at individuals and organisations who have information that is relevant to how the Work Capability Assessment is operating and what further changes, if any, are needed to improve the process.

We have sent this call for evidence document to a large number of people and organisations who have previously been involved in this work or who have expressed an interest. Please do share this document with, or tell us about, anyone you think will want to be involved in this call for evidence.

see in full here

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Please sign Pats Petition  here and ask others to do the same.

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Reforming care and support

The most radical reform of the social care system in 64 years is announced today. The overhaul will mean people will get the care and support they need so they don’t reach crisis point. The draft Care and Support Bill consolidates a mess of different laws to, for the first time, create a single modern statute for adult care and support.

see in full here

Caring for our future: reforming care and support – White Paper

• draft Care and Support Bill
• Progress report on social care funding

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Sector slams lack of funding solution in care White Paper – Community Care

No more delays – carers cant wait -  Carers UK

Social care white paper represents massive failure – Alzheimers Society

Care costs: Charities hit out at ‘death tax’   -  The Independent

Guardian Live blog

Carers UK urgently need your support for a new carers’ and disabled people’s law

Carers UK has joined forces with Barbara Keeley MP and a cross party group of MPs to work on a new piece of legislation to improve the supply of social care and help identify hidden carers.
Barbara Keeley MP, a long-term advocate for carers, secured a spot in the parliamentary calendar for a ‘Private Member’s Bill’ – a piece of legislation proposed by a backbench MP rather than the Government – and chose to use the opportunity to champion carers’ rights.
For Private Member’s Bills to succeed they need to win support and convince the Government to allow MPs to debate the Bills. The support of individuals, local groups and national organisations will therefore make big difference in adding weight to the case in favour of this Bill.
We urgently need your help. To add your support please fill in your details on this form, and we will keep you updated on the progress of the Bill.