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Our last meeting on February 9th was to say the least a hive of activity. We had Greg Hibbins “working the tables” with his Tablet and iPhone so that everyone could see what his talk was about and Rod and Judy Penfold showed their shoes. Between the two activities there was a lot of to-ing and fro-ing - not to forget the eating of lunch which was of course, free to those who had been at the Christmas lunch!
Greg’s talk certainly aroused everyone’s interest and no fewer than 18 people were asking him to give lessons! He has promised to come back to us with dates as soon as possible. Meanwhile boxes started to appear as shoes were tried on and purchases made.
Our main speaker of the day was Gina Pearson who is the Senior Manager at County Services, Adult Care and Support. She also introduced Andrea Retallick who is the comparatively new Manager for what was the old Carrick area – seems such a pity that we don’t still have those names instead of “hubs”, the number of which changes from day to day, to describe our regions.
Gina was talking about the STEP Service and explained that it stands for Short-Term Enablement and Planning Service - what a mouthful! Anyway it is a service which supports anyone over the age of 18 who may have some sort of health crisis at home where temporary support is needed, or when someone is returning from hospital and needs additional support.
A question was asked about who can use the service. Gina said it can only be accessed following an assessment. This may be through the hospital discharge team, a therapist or other health care professional. The individual, or someone acting on their behalf, can make a referral. Contact the Access and Assessment Team on 0300 1234 131 or further information on www.cornwall.gov.uk/steps.
Needless to say that as the Forum has quite a number of ex-healthcare professionals there was some serious questioning! Unfortunately as the talk went on there were Members who felt that what they were hearing had stirred-up unwanted memories about care, or lack of, that they had experienced. I think we are all aware of the limitations of any service especially now with the changes to health and social care but we must be confident that people like Gina will do their utmost to ensure that everyone is cared for with dignity and respect and to the highest standards possible.
Our next meeting, at the Greenlawns Hotel in Falmouth is on 29 March and includes the AGM – we promise to make the “business” as short as possible.
Judith Whiteley
Chairman
WINTER WELLBEING
I know you all got copies of the Winter Wellbeing as I was staggering around with hundreds of these guides. I had actually asked for about 30 and ended up with the aforementioned hundreds! I just wonder how much money has been wasted on the printing of such a quantity - others I know had massive amounts of them too and I suspect many of them will go nowhere!
Amusing mixed reactions to the booklet - one gentleman received his obviously second copy, with disdain. “childish presentation; (could that be the knitting?) got all the information I need; waste of time and money” He slapped my proffered copy down and said he had shredded the
first one!
Then ensued a very interesting discussion mostly around presentation rather than content as clearly it hadn’t yet been read. If you haven’t yet read the booklet in question perhaps you should – before next winter! If you haven’t had a copy, let Judith know and she will send you one or you can get your own from the Well Being Centre, in the Municipal building in Truro.
HOUSING AND CARE
Continuing news via Grant Shapps, Housing Minister.
We have all read that the Government proposed a scheme to help elderly people downsize from their family homes and suggested we should be planning to pay for any care we receive in later life. Obviously this has been met with mixed reactions. You will also recall that Saga called the idea “outrageous social engineering”.
This proposal came on the same day that another Government minister called for older people to either release equity from their homes or divert savings in order to pay for care.
Currently anyone with assets of more than £23,500 has to pay their own care costs in full. As a result, it is estimated that some 20,000 people each year have to sell their homes to raise the money. Back to Mr Andrew Dilnot and his recommendations (see previous newsletters) who is proposing a cap of £35,000 on the cost of care but the Government is proposing a cap of £60,000. Still under debate.
Under the New Deal for Older People the Government is providing funding for home adaptations so that older people can live in their own homes for longer. Money for the Disabled Facilities Grants (DFGs) has been increased by £20 million. DFG grants are for adaptations to enable people to cope better in their own homes. In addition the Government has given £51 million towards HandyPersons services.
Cornwall has a budget of £62 million for housing investment which proposes to deliver just over 4,000 homes in the next 4 years, 3,000 of which will be affordable homes to rent, bring 520 empty homes back into use, improve 700 existing homes and adapt 2,000 homes to make them safe for older and disabled people. There is also an additional £7 million for Adult Care and Support. We are all familiar with DFGs – or you are now – and HandyPersons. Good to know that they have received an increase. But, there is always a but, is there still enough in the pot for everyone?
CARERS IN CRISIS
Mass Lobby of Parliament – well 4 of us went from Cornwall!
You will recall we filled in petition forms for Carers in Crisis at our last meeting. Those have gone towards the already 6,000 local signatures in addition to that there are 15,859 on line signatures already collected. The aim is to achieve 100,000.
All this is because according to the Minister, Paul Burstow “probably in May” the Government is due to publish a White Paper on the future of Adult Social Care. It is imperative that the Government goes ahead with reforming the social care system so we must continue to give support. As the Dilnot report says the current system is “confusing, unfair and unsustainable”
If you haven’t signed up to the petition, please do by going to the Age UK web site at www.ageuk.org.uk and follow the care petition tab.
Our day at Westminster was not without incident! We were off at the crack of sparrows by train to London and arrived at Westminster in good time to join forces with representatives from 60 charities totalling 1000 people. What we had not taken account of was the amount of walking involved back and to from Church House to Westminster Hall and thereby we had a serious problem. However, our plight was soon resolved with taxi help provided by Age UK and also, to our delight, we were fast-tracked into Westminster Hall to the cries of others “why are they not in the queue?” We ignored that, got in, registered, had a bite to eat and sallied forth to meet our MP, Sarah Newton, at 3.00. We had prepared questions but unfortunately time constraints precluded us getting our points aired – disappointing.
Back to a taxi and back to Church House where we had been invited to join the question and answer session being held by Paul Burstow, the Care Services Minister, which was an amazing and rewarding experience. Of course, we live in an era of tweeting, emails and the new one twobby which is a virtual twitter and facebook lobby and so in addition to live questions there were electronic questions.
The people we met made us feel very humble ranging from deaf, blind, learning difficulties, and others with harrowing tales to tell. One of the biggest questions was about portability of assessment i.e. the post code lottery. We heard from a man with Aspergers who could not get a job and his IQ was too high to get benefits. Mental health issues were highlighted, in particular the inappropriate use of anti-psychotic drugs. Care Homes came in for criticism with well-being and humanity issues raised.
The meeting was very well orchestrated, assisting Paul Burstow was Simon Gillespie, Chief Executive of the Multiple Sclerosis Society and Chairman of the Care and Support Alliance (hosting the lobby) who was able to answer sensitive questions which Paul Burstow could not. The result was we had succinct answers in understandable language and no prevarication. We came away daring to hope that the Minister had listened and maybe, just maybe, closer working between Adult Social Care and the NHS could be achieved.
NEW MEMBERS
Come and join the 50,000 or so members in the South-West (60 forums). What you think and say matters so get your voice added to the ever- growing number through your local Forum.
We are also keen to hear from prospective new members who have an interest in actively pursuing relevant issues, by representing the Forum at meetings of other organisations.
TACKLING AVOIDABLE SIGHT LOSS
The Government announced in January that it is making eye health a priority.
“The eye health indicator in the Public Health Outcomes Framework will measure the rate of sight loss of which there are three major causes, chronic glaucoma, age related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy. In many cases sight loss from these conditions can be prevented if detected and treated earlier. The aim is to reduce avoidable sight loss by the year 2020.
“Almost two million people in the UK are currently living with sight loss and it is set to increase dramatically. It is predicted that by 2050 the number of people in the UK will double to nearly four million.
“Eye care costs in 2008 were £6.5 billion and by next year 2013 these costs will have risen to £7.9 billion.”
Probably most of us are wearing glasses and most of us will know someone with one of the three causes of sight impairment so this is a welcome major breakthrough.
PENSIONERS ON LOW INCOME
Over one million pensioners who may be entitled to Pension Credit should check if they are missing out on extra cash. Up to £2.93 billion of Pension Credit goes unclaimed every year and as many as 1.6 million people could be entitled to this money.
Pension Credit tops up your income to £137.35 a week for a single person, £209.79 for a couple. Those with savings or a work pension could still be eligible as could those who own their own homes.
The average weekly award is £57 a week – that’s almost £3,000 a year which could make a huge difference.
It is so important to find out if you are entitled to claim Pension Credit, as well as Housing Benefit and Council Tax Benefit. One free phone call does the lot 0800 99 1234.
SNIPPETS
Dates for your diaries
Age UK Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly is Celebrating Volunteers at the Royal Cornwall Museum to celebrate and showcase 40 years of volunteer service in Cornwall. It promises to be great fun and David and I will be there to promote our Forum. Please come if you can as there is some great entertainment too.Date: Saturday 31st March Time: 10.00am till 2.00pm Venue: Royal Cornwall Museum, Truro
Please note the date and day has changed for the Christmas lunch at the Greenlawns Hotel in Falmouth. Tuesday, 4th December 2012.
Park Homes – part 3
(see previous newsletters numbers 18 and 20 August and December)Cornwall Council has now guaranteed £500,000 over the next two years to insulate Park Homes. Clearly this is still nowhere near enough to cover the number of homes. Bear in mind that “the booklet” says one of the best ways of keeping yourself well during winter is to stay warm ......
Fit as a Fiddle
The last class in Mylor Bridge will be on 12 March. The ten classes sponsored by Age UK have come to an end.
Pavement potholes
Val and Margaret are on a campaign to discover potholes – trips, falls, sprained ankles are to be avoided and these two, armed with a camera are highlighting any dangerous areas. If you have noticed any holes, cracks or whatever, which you consider to be a danger, please contact Val to let her know. 01872 270599 or email valeriejewell@aol.com
Upcoming Meeting
Charlet Treloar is our speaker this month. She is a community-based first aid co-ordinator in Cornwall for the British Red Cross. The Red Cross is the biggest humanitarian charity, which offers help to anyone in times of crisis.
Part of Charlet’s role is to build resilience in our communities by getting first aid learning to vulnerable and community groups around Cornwall. She says “if we can teach communities new skills, increase their confidence then we are more likely to increase people’s willingness to help others during times of crisis.”
HEALTH MATTERS FROM DR DOMMETT
I read this week that the need to promote dignified treatment of older folk should be enshrined in medical and nursing training, and that the few students who cannot treat the elderly with respect should be thrown out at an early stage. There must be many such campaigns around, all promoting the need to state the obvious.
A Bill is about to be put to Parliament (The Carers Bill) to make it a duty of health professionals to look after the Carers and provide them with sources of information and other support. Again, I suggest stating the obvious ... but maybe when there are so many examples where this does not happen that we really do need an Act of Parliament.
I must be careful not to sign off with “that’s all, my dears!” or anything similar, or I will be in big trouble.
LETTERS & COMMENTS
“HEALTH REFORMS WILL BE THE END OF FREE CARE FOR ALL”
This is a dreadful piece of legislation – a dead parrot of a Bill: it is badly conceived, badly written and bodes ill for us all. Desirable changes to the NHS could have been made much more easily and without shredding what is good about the Service we have currently.
British Rail apparently had more severe problems than our NHS, but the changes wrought to our rail system by de-nationalisation have brought us to the morass with which we now do battle. Has competition improved the connectivity of our train services? Has the pricing of rail travel remained simple and uniform across the country? Have service facilities become better deployed for the convenience and comfort of passengers? The complications from rail privatisation have now gone so far that one rail company has begun working together with Rail Track under a joint manager – effectively re-nationalising because it is more efficient.
Now, imagine how a fragmented NHS may degenerate when its specifications have become loosened by implementation of the Bill. It is not so much that the Health and Social Care Bill specifies a poorer service, but that it removes the duty to provide a high quality and uniform service, and permits the development of more costly services with no recourse to legal challenge. I do not understand how our Parliamentary Representatives can ignore the multitude of critical voices from those who have taken time to explore the implications of this document. Without a major re- appraisal of the potential risks, I believe that failings of health and care which have been splashed across various media in recent months may come to seem relatively trivial by the time the Primary Care Trust’s have been gone a year. I hope I am wrong.
There is no mandate for this Bill - it was not part of any Party's election manifesto, nor was it part of the ConDem coalition pact. Baroness Williams (and others) will have much to answer for.
Jim Kent
South West Seniors Network
What is still in the bill
1) Legal duty of Secretary of State to provide is abolished 2) Competition chapter has not been dropped
3) Cherry picking by providers is not outlawed 4) All providers must set and apply eligibility and selection criteria (to decide who can and will be treated) which in part can lead to
5) The legalising of fewer services for fewer people, introducing charges for services currently free, and excluding people from the service
Prof. Allyson Pollock
JUST FOR FUN
Q: Doctor, I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life. Is this true? A: Heart only good for so many beats, and that it... Don't waste on exercise. Everything wear out eventually. Speeding up heart not make you live longer; it like saying you extend life of car by driving faster. Want to live longer? Take nap.
Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake?
A: Oh no. Wine made from fruit. Brandy distilled wine, that mean they take water out of fruity bit so you get even more of goodness that way. Beer also made of grain. Bottom up!
Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio? A: Well, if you have body and you have fat, your ratio one to one. If you have two body, your ratio two to one.
Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program? A: Can't think of single one, sorry. My philosophy: No pain...good!
Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you?
A: YOU NOT LISTENING! Food fried in vegetable oil. How getting more vegetable be bad?
Q : Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle? A: Oh no! When you exercise muscle, it get bigger. You should only be doing sit-up if you want bigger stomach.
Q: Is chocolate bad for me?
A: You crazy?!? HEL-LO-O!! Cocoa bean! Another vegetable! It best feel-good food around!
Q: Is swimming good for your figure?
A: If swimming good for figure, explain whale to me.
Q: Is getting in shape important for my lifestyle? A: Hey! 'Round' is shape!
Well... I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets.
And remember: Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways - Chardonnay in one hand - chocolate in the other - body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming "WOO-HOO, what a ride!!"
AND.....
For those of you who watch what you eat, here's the final word on nutrition and health. It's a relief to know the truth after all those conflicting nutritional
studies.
1. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. 2. The Mexicans eat a lot of fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
3. The Chinese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans. 4. The Italians drink a lot of red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
5. The Germans drink a lot of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than Americans.
CONCLUSION:
Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is apparently what kills you !!!!!
UPCOMING MEETINGS
BI-MONTHLY FORUM MEETINGS
The bi-monthly meetings all take place on a THURSDAY from 12.00 noon until 3.00pm.
NEXT MEETING WILL BE: 29TH MARCH - Greenlawns Hotel, Falmouth
GUEST SPEAKER:
Charlet Treloar from the British Red Cross.
Transport can be arranged for those who really need it, but you will be asked to make a nominal contribution of £4.00 for your door to door service. Lunch prior to the meeting is £5.00 per head. Please book your lunch with Judith.
DATES FOR 2012
Forum meetings:
7TH JUNE Carlton Hotel, Truro
9TH AUGUST Greenlawns Hotel, Falmouth
4TH OCTOBER Carlton Hotel, Truro
4TH DECEMBER Greenlawns Hotel, Falmouth
PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS:cornwall.gov.uk/Default.aspx?page=27127
NEW FORUM MEMBERS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME
CONTACT THE FORUM
JUDITH WHITELEY (CHAIRMAN)EMAIL: jwhiteley@cornwall.gov.uk TELEPHONE: 01326 315305
WRITE TO: Carrick Over-50’s Forum 17 Church Road, Mylor Bridge TR11 5NL
DAVID WHEELER (TREASURER)
TELEPHONE: 01326 315305
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