News

The London Mental Health Carers Network has been in existence for several years and is hosted by the Department of Health Carer’s Programme (London). It is a network of carers, service users and professionals who work with families and carers in mental health services. The Network meets 4 times per year to discuss key mental health issues, participate in consultation and to share experience and good practice.

Participants include carers and carer-professionals, mainly from adult mental health services; we are looking to broaden the membership to include carers of children & adolescents with mental health needs, and carers of people with dementia.

The Network is contributing to London-wide work encouraging local authorities and other organisations to build services for carers (across all care groups) which will be sustainable during the difficult times ahead.

The next meeting of the Network is on 22nd September and will focus on two key areas: Carers of Children & Adolescents with mental health needs and Young Carers

This event is free of charge and is open to anyone with an interest in these two areas.

Regards

Sheila Lakey
D.H Carer’s Programme Lead (London)

Panna Kotecha
Project Administrator
Social Care and Partnerships - Department of Health (London Region).
5th Floor Riverwalk House
157 - 161 Millbank
London
SW1P 4RR
Direct Line: 0207 217 3046
Fax: 0207 217 3464

Carers are advised to be vigilant over the coming months to a scam involving electricity prepayment meter keys.

Criminal gangs have gained the ability to clone the prepayment keys used on this type of meter, which they use to offer fraudlent discounted credit to customers.  An estimated 85,000 households have been approached by doorstep salesmen since the start of the summer, according to industry body Energy UK.

But customers who buy the half-price black market credit could end up having to pay again for the energy use.  The gangs, who sometimes claim to be from the energy companies, typically offer £50 worth of prepayment meter top-up at half the price.  The salesmen then push the cloned key into the householder’s meter to add the credit.  Customers get their extra electricity but, since the credit is illegal, they may end up having to pay their energy supplier as well – effectively paying twice.

Since a fairly high number of carers in Southwark use prepayment meters, we wanted to draw your attention to this scam.  Energy UK has advised that no official sellers of electricity meter top-ups operate door-to-door and that customers are being asked to report to Crimestoppers anyone they know selling top-ups illegally.

As we all know, caring can have a disastrous impact on carers’ finances. The Princess Royal Trust for Carers wants to find out from at least 1,000 carers across the country how the current economic climate is effecting their financial situation. These findings will be used to raise national and regional media awareness of this issue and will be fed into the National Carers Strategy consultation.

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

Community Treatment Orders were introduced in November 2008 as a way of ensuring that some patients, on discharge from hospital after a period of detention under the Mental Health Act, maintained compliance with their medication. There is not much data about how many Orders have been issued, but it is probably around 4,000 between November 2008 and November 2009.

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

There’s tons to do in Southwark over the Summer holidays, from learning to be a lifeguard to  grafitti lessons and learning to customise clothes.

For more information check out the attached poster.

SYTI Summer activities 2010

What is mindfulness?

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.

Read more

Picturehouse cinemas are working in partnership with The National Autistic Society to hold special film screenings for people on the autism spectrum and their families, friends and carers.

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

New measures are needed to help identify people caring for their friends and relatives, an MP demanded today.

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.

Five million adults aged 16 or over in England – nearly one in eight – act as a carer for a sick, elderly or disabled person, with over a fifth providing care for more than 50 hours a week, provisional figures from The NHS Information Centre show this month.

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