Home
>
The Living Room
>
Topic
yet who gets the most money
Posted by mercurior
|
yet who gets the most money February 24, 2008 | Registered: 19 years ago Posts: 4,402 |
Over 1.2 million older people living in isolation
By Richard Gray
Last Updated: 2:51am GMT 24/02/2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/24/nelderly124.xml
More than 1.2 million elderly people are living isolated and lonely lives, according to a new report that calls on the Government to find new ways of "re-connecting" older people to their communities.
An estimated 1.9 million have now lost state-funded care
The report, by the charity Counsel and Care, which offers support and advice for the elderly, blames the problem on growing fragmentation of families, age discrimination and a decline in support services.
The charity is urging that the 3,500 children's centres set up under the Government's Sure Start programme should offer support and social activities for elderly people.
It says that Neighbourhood Watch schemes could also help the socially excluded elderly.
Sure Start was designed to help children living in deprived areas by bringing together childcare, health and family support services under one roof.
Stephen Burke, chief executive of Counsel and Care, said that the centres should be extended to provide education, leisure, health care and advice for the elderly.
"The key issue is about regular social contact as well as providing essential services such as health care in one place," he said.
Local authorities have been shutting down home help, the charity says, and there has been a reduction in the number of services easily available, which has left more older people on their own in their homes.
"The Sure Start idea has a number of benefits as it is about making it easier for people to access services at a single point but also reaching out into the local community to people who are most likely to be isolated in their own homes," Mr Burke said.
"We are arguing that kind of community infrastructure can help support elderly people while other schemes could be used to help people in their homes with repairs, gardening, shopping and cleaning."
Sure Start children's centres have been highly controversial, with critics claiming that they have attracted affluent parents rather than helping to lift children out of deprivation. One in Sunderland offered parents tips on basic DIY and a cultural awareness course where they learned henna painting, hair braiding and Indian head massage.
A report published two years ago by the Social Exclusion Unit also called for Sure Start-style schemes to help older people to be included more in their communities.
The Government has faced mounting criticism over the state of care for the elderly.
A report released earlier this year revealed that dwindling home help funding from the Government is forcing frail elderly people to pay out more than £500 a week for private services. An estimated 1.9 million have now lost state-funded care.
The charity Help the Aged has claimed that up to 300,000 elderly people in the UK can go a month without speaking to a family member or a neighbour. For some, their only form of human contact is with the milkman or postman.
Around 2.2 million of the country's 11 million elderly people are now thought to live below the Government's poverty line, with many struggling to heat their homes in the face of rising fuel costs.
The Government says it will consider tackling social exclusion of the elderly as part of a strategy for housing an ageing population, due to be launched this week.
A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: "We will be publishing a strategy to address these issues and better meet the housing needs of an ageing society, including helping older people live safely and independently in their own homes."
*** yet they mention children, give more money to single moo's people should care for the old, they fought and suffered through so many things things we can never experience. they deserve respect. but as usual kids are the political earners
*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii
Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.â€
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein
By Richard Gray
Last Updated: 2:51am GMT 24/02/2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/02/24/nelderly124.xml
More than 1.2 million elderly people are living isolated and lonely lives, according to a new report that calls on the Government to find new ways of "re-connecting" older people to their communities.
An estimated 1.9 million have now lost state-funded care
The report, by the charity Counsel and Care, which offers support and advice for the elderly, blames the problem on growing fragmentation of families, age discrimination and a decline in support services.
The charity is urging that the 3,500 children's centres set up under the Government's Sure Start programme should offer support and social activities for elderly people.
It says that Neighbourhood Watch schemes could also help the socially excluded elderly.
Sure Start was designed to help children living in deprived areas by bringing together childcare, health and family support services under one roof.
Stephen Burke, chief executive of Counsel and Care, said that the centres should be extended to provide education, leisure, health care and advice for the elderly.
"The key issue is about regular social contact as well as providing essential services such as health care in one place," he said.
Local authorities have been shutting down home help, the charity says, and there has been a reduction in the number of services easily available, which has left more older people on their own in their homes.
"The Sure Start idea has a number of benefits as it is about making it easier for people to access services at a single point but also reaching out into the local community to people who are most likely to be isolated in their own homes," Mr Burke said.
"We are arguing that kind of community infrastructure can help support elderly people while other schemes could be used to help people in their homes with repairs, gardening, shopping and cleaning."
Sure Start children's centres have been highly controversial, with critics claiming that they have attracted affluent parents rather than helping to lift children out of deprivation. One in Sunderland offered parents tips on basic DIY and a cultural awareness course where they learned henna painting, hair braiding and Indian head massage.
A report published two years ago by the Social Exclusion Unit also called for Sure Start-style schemes to help older people to be included more in their communities.
The Government has faced mounting criticism over the state of care for the elderly.
A report released earlier this year revealed that dwindling home help funding from the Government is forcing frail elderly people to pay out more than £500 a week for private services. An estimated 1.9 million have now lost state-funded care.
The charity Help the Aged has claimed that up to 300,000 elderly people in the UK can go a month without speaking to a family member or a neighbour. For some, their only form of human contact is with the milkman or postman.
Around 2.2 million of the country's 11 million elderly people are now thought to live below the Government's poverty line, with many struggling to heat their homes in the face of rising fuel costs.
The Government says it will consider tackling social exclusion of the elderly as part of a strategy for housing an ageing population, due to be launched this week.
A spokesman for the Department of Communities and Local Government said: "We will be publishing a strategy to address these issues and better meet the housing needs of an ageing society, including helping older people live safely and independently in their own homes."
*** yet they mention children, give more money to single moo's people should care for the old, they fought and suffered through so many things things we can never experience. they deserve respect. but as usual kids are the political earners
*********************************************************************************************************************************
I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone
Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii
Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.â€
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein
Nour
Re: yet who gets the most money February 25, 2008 |
Another great article for me to forward! Thanks, Merc.
Another casualty of governments that are run by corporations. I wonder if some CEO of corps will be kicking themselves as 2050 looms when they realize the consumers they so want to buy their shit get killed as a result of resource wars.
I always have this image of someone painting the floor facing the door. We’ve literally painted ourselves into a corner.
Another casualty of governments that are run by corporations. I wonder if some CEO of corps will be kicking themselves as 2050 looms when they realize the consumers they so want to buy their shit get killed as a result of resource wars.
I always have this image of someone painting the floor facing the door. We’ve literally painted ourselves into a corner.
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.