Offtobedhampton thank you for your eloquent explanation of my particular type of PA, I hate the term carer because it belittles what she does for me, she is the difference between life and no life, getting out of the house and never leaving, smiling or having nothing to smile about. I've been disabled for eleven years and each one of those has been more difficult and I've become more disabled, I've had some truly shit carers over the years, the ones that turn up late, feel that they are only there to do the bare minimum, the 15 minutes calls that aren't long enough to make a cup of tea, ones that steal, take advantage and most recently the one who applied for a job as a "non smoker" understanding that under no circumstances could I be around cigarette smoke, first or second hand but chose to put my health at risk anyway.
My care package is funded by the NHS through Continuing Health Care but I self manage the money and top up my PA's salary to truly reflect what she does and how difficult it is. She is solely responsible five days a week for keeping me alive and managing all of my equipment, medication and the pathetic amount of money she is expected to live on is an insult.
The up side is that I often describe her as being my body, mine doesn't work, hers does so as a five foot three inch slightly podgy fifty five year old cripple I actually have the body of a five foot ten, stunning forty year old with legs that go on forever.