Two leading figures supporting the Alzheimer’s Society have been honoured in the New Year Honours list.

Actress Lynda Bellingham (famous as the Oxo Mum!) has been awarded an OBE in recognition of the charitable work she has done for the charity during the seven years she has been its ambassador.

A British Empire Medal (BEM) has been awarded to 72-year-old Trevor Jarvis who was diagnosed with vascular dementia in 2001 and has since gone on to be an influential member of the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia. He has been recognised for his work promoting dementia-friendly cities.

In addition to the above Welsh actress and supporter of Alzheimer’s Society Ruth Jones was awarded an MBE for her work in the entertainment industry. Miss Jones has spoken out about her own family experiences with dementia.

The Office of National Statistics has reported that the number of people aged 85 and over has risen over 25% since 2001 – now up to 1.25 million.

In addition the number of over 85s who provide unpaid care (often for a child) has also doubled since 2001. Many over 85s now have children in their 60’s who are dependent on a carer and often it is their ageing parent who has to take responsibility for this care! The problem is compounded because fewer older people are now entitled to local authority support which means that more elderly people have to provide care for their “older” children.

Whilst of course most parents would undoubtedly see this as something they would do for their child, the physical and emotional toll of providing care for over 50 hours a week, would be very difficult for most to cope with.

Most people over 85 live in their own homes – only 1 in 10 men and 1 in 5 women live in a residential care home. Many of those living at home do so through the support of home care companies like Everycare which allow individuals to keep their independence.
 

The Guardian newspaper has recently conducted an online debate that considered ideas to improve the provision of home care in the UK. To view the debate click here.

Everycare is committed to improving the delivery of home care services to clients and any suggestions can be forwarded to Everycare at enquiries@everycare.co.uk

A survey of home care undertaken by the Department of Health has provided new ideas for improving the way home care is delivered.

The home care ideas came from over 1000 service users, their friends and family, providers of care and care professionals.

The survey clearly identified what individuals saw as being the most important issues in the provision of home care. This included:

• friendly, respectful and capable care workers
• sufficient time for care
• choice about services

Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb said:

“We need better care now for the 300,000 people currently getting home care and for the sake of the millions more who will need it in years to come. That’s why we have conducted this survey, so we could invite anyone – from councils to those receiving care – to tell us how to make care better.

This survey has generated some really interesting ideas to improve home care and I look forward to working with the care sector to see how we can take these ideas to the next stage”.

For the full story click here.