Here is the link to the survey - http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/9KX976C

The Mental Health Foundation is looking to find out what carers of people with more serious mental health problems (in effect, people who have been detained in hospital under the Mental Health Act, and may have been discharged under a CTO) think about the Orders.

Please find a link to a questionnaire below:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/CTOsurveyC

For more information check out the attached poster.

SYTI Summer activities 2010

Mindfulness is a way of living with a full and rich awareness, a way of stepping out of automatic pilot and unconscious mental habits, and coming into the present moment with a skilful and kind attention.  It is a simple but profound training in attention and awareness that is a combination of meditation techniques deriving from ancient contemplative traditions brought together with aspects of modern psychotherapy. By paying mindful attention to sensations in the body, and to thoughts and feelings as they arise, it is possible to develop a day-to-day awareness that is more balanced and centred, even when circumstances of life may be difficult.

What is a mindfulness based stress reduction course?

Mindfulness based stress reduction, or MBSR, is a tried and tested, structured course that teaches participants how to practice mindfulness through simple meditation and yoga practices. Developed over the past 30 years, mindfulness has been extensively researched and found to have helped many people deal with a wide range of difficulties from chronic pain to mental distress. It also offers a way of developing positive mental qualities and mental wellbeing. Mindfulness has been recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence to help prevent relapse in depression. It is taught in a non-religious and non-spiritual context and does not require belief in any spiritual tradition.

Who is the course for?

This course has been created specifically for carers of people with mental health problems in Southwark. It is known that carers can face significant challenges while caring for a family member or friend with mental health problems, and that this can negatively impact their own health. It is hoped that participants on this course will be able to learn a practice that will help them look after their own health and well being. Participants must be over 18 years of age and fluent in spoken and written English (all the instructions and materials provided will be in English). To help us find out if this course is helpful and practical for carers we would like to ask participants to complete brief questionnaires about the course.

What happens on the course?

The programme consists of one orientation session followed by eight two hour sessions in consecutive weeks. You will learn the skill of mindfulness using experiential exercises and gentle yoga movements alongside a variety of mindful meditations. This will be supported through teaching and group discussion. Participants will be encouraged to develop their own daily mindfulness practice and will be given a practice to do at home 6 out of 7 days, for approximately 45 minutes per day. You will be provided with audio CDs and a workbook. In joining the course you will be making a commitment, as best you can, to attending all sessions and doing the daily home practice. Making time for this can, at times, feel stressful but we encourage you to work with these difficulties, they are an important part of your journey.

The course leaders

Jim Clark is a Community Mental Health Nurse in SLaM who has practiced meditation for 10 years, has taught meditation in the local community for four years, and also offers meditation sessions for staff and service users at the Maudsley Sanctuary. He has completed a Mindfulness Teacher Development training with the Bangor Centre for Mindfulness Research and Practice.

Mary-Jo Doyle is a Clinical Nurse Specialist in SLaM who also has an extensive personal meditation practice and has completed the Bangor Mindfulness Teacher Development training.

Course details

Dates: nine weeks in total (one orientation session followed by eight course sessions) from 19th August to 14th October, 6pm to 8pm.

Venue: Jamyang Buddhist Centre, The Old Courthouse, 43 Renfrew Rd, Kennington SE11 4NA.

Cost: Free to carers of mental health service users in Southwark

How to apply:

Please use the application form below.

The course leaders will look at the applications, and may need to contact you prior to the start of the course.

If you would like to speak to someone about this course you can contact Jim Clark on 07976 205 649 or

jim.clark@slam.nhs.uk or Mary-Jo Doyle on  mary-jo.doyle@slam.nhs.uk Monday–Friday 9am–5pm.

Mindfulness course for carers_application form final

During the film low lights are left on inside the auditorium and the volume of the soundtrack is reduced. It is fine for customers to move around, make a noise or take a break during the film if they need to.

Tickets £3.00 (There are no concessions or free tickets for support workers.)

Wheelchair users MUST book in advance.

NANNY MCPHEE AND THE BIG BANG

• Monday 2 August, 11.00am

The Ritzy

Brixton Oval, London SW2 1JG

Bookings & Info: 0871 902 5739

Clapham Picturehouse

76 Venn Street, Clapham SW4 0AT

Bookings & Info: 0871 902 5727

• Thursday 5 August, 11.00am

Greenwich Picturehouse

180 Greenwich High Road,

London SE10 8NN

Bookings & Info: 0871 902 5732

FURRY VENGEANCE

• Monday 16 August, 11.00am

The Ritzy

Brixton Oval, London SW2 1JG

Bookings & Info: 0871 902 5739

• Tuesday 17 August, 11.00am

Clapham Picturehouse

76 Venn Street, Clapham SW4 0AT

Bookings & Info: 0871 902 5727

• Thursday 19 August, 11.00am

Greenwich Picturehouse

180 Greenwich High Road,

London SE10 8NN

Bookings & Info: 0871 902 5732

For further information or to be added to the mailing list please contact Elinor Walpole on 0207 326 2611/ elinor.w@picturehouses.co.uk

The National Autistic Society is the UK’s leading charity for people affected by autism. If you need information, advice and support, call The National Autistic Society’s Autism Helpline on 0845 070 4004 (Mon-Fri, 10.00-4.00).

www.autism.org.uk

Labour’s Barbara Keeley (Worsley and Eccles S) called for more support from health authorities, GPs and social services to support the increasing number of carers who devote more than 50 hours a week to looking after others.

Carole Cochrane, chief executive of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, said: “We fully support the Bill.

“Without early identification and support, carers can suffer physical and mental breakdowns.

“This can result in the original patient requiring emergency hospital admission or expensive residential care and the carer becoming a patient as well. As a result, many families are collapsing under the strain. GPs are crucial in helping to identify carers and offering them support.
“We carried out research in May 2010 and found that over two-thirds of young carers are bullied at school and 39% said that none of their teachers are even aware of their caring role.

“Sadly, without the right support, many young carers will under-achieve or drop out of school altogether, which has a long and enduring impact on their future prospects. Again, identification is crucial.

“The new coalition Government has talked about the need to support Britain’s army of six million adult and young carers, and we are urging them to honour the pledges they made during the election and back this Bill.”

This group of carers were often more likely to suffer ill-health themselves, and a growing number of carers were children, many of whom did not tell their teachers of the extra pressures they faced caring for a parent or sibling, she told MPs.

Introducing her Carers (Identification and Support) Bill Ms Keeley said: ”We have a population that is living longer and living more often with dementia, illness or a long-term condition.

“It has become clear that more and more families are stepping in to provide full-time and high levels of care.”

The Bill, which has cross-party backing from MPs, would require GPs and PCTs to identify carers and direct them to appropriate support organisations.

It would also require schools to have written policies in place to support young carers, who were often treated as truants for taking time off, she claimed.

The Bill was given an unopposed first reading, but stands little chance of becoming law without Government backing.

22 per cent provide care for 50 hours or more, compared to 10 per cent in 2000-01. Latest figures also provisionally show nearly half of carers (48 per cent) provide 20 hours or more of care a week and 30 per cent provide 35 hours or more.

A separate survey also published today suggests that carers known to councils with adult social services responsibilities have more intense caring duties, with nearly half (49 per cent) spending over 50 hours a week caring and over a third (37 per cent) caring for more than 100 hours a week.

The findings are from two new reports published today: Survey of Carers in households – 2009/10 England – Provisional Results, which involved results from 2,400 interviews with carers, and Personal Social Services Survey of Adult Carers in England, 2009/10, a new survey of carers known to councils with adult social services responsibilities, which received 35,000 responses.

Together the reports provide more detail than ever before about the typical profile of a carer and their experiences.

The Survey of Carers in households – 2009/10 England – Provisional Results, gives provisional national estimates based on 2,400 interviews with carers. It shows that just over a third (35 per cent) of carers look after or provide special help for a parent, while over a quarter (27 per cent) care for their spouse or partner.

One in ten (10 per cent) care for a friend or neighbour, 14 per cent for their child, nine per cent for a parent-in-law, five per cent for a grandparent and nine per cent for other relatives. (Note that figures sum to more than 100 per cent as carers may be caring for more than one person).

Personal Social Services Survey of Adult Carers in England, 2009/10 surveyed carers known to councils and received 35,000 responses. Of those that responded:

• Nearly half of carers (47 per cent) were either retired or self employed, while nearly one in five (17 per cent) were not working because of their caring responsibilities and 14 per cent were not in employment for other reasons. Six per cent were in work and said they did not need support from their employer while 12 per cent were in work and felt supported, but four per cent were in work but did not feel supported.
• Nearly half of carers (47 per cent) said the quality of their life was “alright” while just over a third (36 per cent) said it was either “good, very good or could not be better”. The remaining 17 per cent said their quality of life was either “bad, very bad or so bad it could not be worse”.
• Eight per cent said they suffered a lot of financial difficulty because of their caring role, while a third said they had suffered to some extent. The remainder (60 per cent) said they had suffered no financial difficulties at all.
• More than half (54 per cent) were either extremely or very satisfied with the support or services they and the person they cared for had received within the last 12 months from Social Services. A further 29 per cent said they were fairly satisfied, nine per cent were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and the remaining eight per cent were either extremely, very or fairly dissatisfied.

NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: “These two reports paint the most detailed picture The NHS Information Centre has produced to date of the typical carer in today’s society.

“The report suggests that the majority of carers are female, most are from a white ethnic background and nearly half of those known to councils are aged 65 or over. Our figures also suggest many carers are spending 50 hours or more per week looking after the person they care for, who is most often a spouse, partner or relative.

“Social care is a broad and complex area in this country and these figures are important, as they help both social care professionals and the wider community understand the impact that caring has on our society.”

The full provisional report for Survey of Carers in households in England 2009/10, is at:www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/carersurvey0910

The full report for Personal Social Services Survey of Adult Carers in England, 2009/10, is at: www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/psscarersurvey0910

But a study has concluded that helping loved ones can sometimes promote the health of the helpers.

A team of researchers led by psychologist Dr Michael Poulin, of the University of Buffalo, analysed helping behaviour and well-being among 73 spousal carers.

Dr Poulin found that carers experience more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions when they engage in ‘active care’ like feeding, bathing, toileting and general physical caring for the spouse.

But the study found that passive care  -  which requires the spouse to simply be nearby in case anything should go wrong  -  provokes negative emotions in the carer and leads to fewer positive emotions.

Dr Poulin said: ‘Our data doesn’t tell us exactly what psychological processes are responsible, but we hypothesise that people may be hardwired so that actively attending to the concrete needs and feelings of others reduces our personal anxiety.’

The study involved 73 subjects, aged from 35 to 89 with an average of 71.5, providing full-time home care to an ailing spouse. Participants carried Palm Pilots that beeped randomly to signal them to report how much time they had spent actively helping or being on call since the last beep, the activities they engaged in and their emotional state.

The researchers found that age had no moderating effects on the association between caring and well-being.

One variable that did affect outcome was the level of perceived interdependence  -  the extent to which carers viewed themselves as sharing a mutually beneficial relationship.

In these cases, said Dr Poulin, ‘the positive effects of active care were particularly strong’.

Dr Poulin added: ‘Overall, we wouldn’t say that caring for an ailing loved one is going to be good for you or healthy for you, but certain activities may be beneficial, especially in high-quality relationships.’

Governments come under pressure to provide respite for carers. However, Dr Poulin said: ‘As this study demonstrates, it is extremely important that caretakers receive the right kind of relief at the right time  -  perhaps less time off from active care duties, and more time off from the onerous task of passively monitoring an ailing loved one.’

The study was published in the journal Psychology and Aging.

Eight Primary Care Trusts will begin to road test direct payments for personal health budgets. This will allow Primary Care Trusts to give the money for someone’s care directly to them, allowing individuals to decide how, where and from whom they receive their healthcare, in partnership with the local NHS.

Previously, personal health budgets could only be held by a Primary Care Trust or third party.

The cost of providing direct payments will come from existing funding within PCTs. Direct payments can be paid to patients in a number of ways, including monthly direct payments or a lump sum for a one off purchase such as a piece of equipment.

The scheme is designed to help individuals with a range of health conditions including people with diabetes, stroke, heart disease, end of life care and mental health conditions.

People can use their personal budgets in a number of ways. For example, one patient who suffers from chronic pain following removal of a spinal tumour uses her personal health budget for long term, extensive massage and hydrotherapy sessions to relieve chronic pain without the side effects of painkilling drugs, drowsiness and disorientation.

Another patient’s personal budget enabled him to spend his last few months at home with his daughter and grandchildren. The budget was used to provide flexible care while his daughter was at work, rather than the more traditional four times a day short visits.

Piloting direct payments is part of wider programme testing personal health budgets. More PCTs will be authorised to offer direct payments over the coming year. The pilot programme will inform decisions around how to proceed with wider, more general roll-out.

Care Services Minister Paul Burstow said:

‘This is an important step towards putting patients at the heart of everything the NHS does.

‘Direct payments have real potential to improve the lives of individuals with long-term health needs by putting treatment choices in their hands. That is why we are driving forward the commitment in the Coalition Agreement to extend access.

‘There is strong evidence from the social care sector that direct payments help achieve better outcomes, and give people more choice and control over the care they receive. It also encourages a more preventative approach. It is a step away from the rigidity of the Primary Care Trusts deciding what services a patient will receive.

‘Direct payments will not work for everyone or for all patient groups or services, but we want to identify whether, for whom and how they could offer an opportunity to help achieve the best health and wellbeing outcomes. That is why we are developing this pilot programme.

‘It will stop healthcare from slipping back to the days of one-dimensional, like-it-or-lump-it services.’

Notes to Editors

The authorised PCTs are:

(Lead PCT: Conditions or services included in pilot)

Doncaster PCT: Continuing healthcare and mental health

Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT: Continuing healthcare, end-of-life care, maternity, and mental health

Central London (joint bid from Hammersmith and Fulham PCT, Kensington and Chelsea PCT and Westminster PCT): Continuing healthcare, stroke, COPD, diabetes and long term neurological conditions

Islington PCT: Continuing healthcare (in limited circumstances, with expansion subject to further approval)

Merseyside (Joint bid from Knowsley PCT, Liverpool PCT and Sefton PCT): Mental health

Oxford PCT: Continuing healthcare and end–of-life care

Somerset PCT: Children in transition to adult services, learning disabilities, long-term neurological conditions

West Sussex PCT: Carers of people who have recently been diagnosed with dementia, children in transition to adult services, continuing healthcare

These pilots will run until 2012.

A personal health budget involves:

• An individual knowing how much money they can spend on their health care (their budget) before discussing and deciding what care and services they want.
• The PCT and the individual agreeing a care plan which sets out:
  - what the individual’s health needs and desired outcomes are;
  - the amount of money in their budget;
  - how this money will be spent to meet the individuals needs/outcomes.
• Regular review of the care plan (at least once a year), and monitoring of how the money is spent. The money should meet the full cost of the agreed care plan.

The direct payment sites are all part of the Department of Health personal health budget pilot programme, which involves around seventy PCTs across England.

The cost of direct payments will be borne out of existing funding streams. In most cases PCTs are carving money out of the relevant condition specific budget. The evidence from social care suggests that personal budgets are cost neutral across the system.

The percentage of carers aged 16 and over providing 50 hours or more care a week has more than doubled in the past nine years from 10% to 22%, provisional figures from the NHS Information Centre showed.

Nearly half of carers – 48% – provide 20 hours or more of care a week and 30% provide 35 hours or more, according to figures from the centre.

Over a third, 35%, of carers look after a parent, while over a quarter, 27%, care for their spouse or partner.

One in 10 care for a friend or neighbour, 14% for their child, 9% for a parent-in-law, 5% for a grandparent and 9% for other relatives.

Nearly half of carers, 47%, said the quality of their life was “all right” while just over a third, 36%, said it was either “good, very good or could not be better”.

The remaining 17% said their quality of life was either “bad, very bad or so bad it could not be worse”.

The figures were taken from two reports – a survey of carers involving results from 2,400 interviews, and a survey of carers known to councils with adult social services responsibilities, which received 35,000 responses.

NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: “The report suggests that the majority of carers are female, most are from a white ethnic background and nearly half of those known to councils are aged 65 or over. Our figures also suggest many carers are spending 50 hours or more per week looking after the person they care for, who is most often a spouse, partner or relative.

“Social care is a broad and complex area in this country and these figures are important, as they help both social care professionals and the wider community understand the impact that caring has on our society.”