Is anybody a carer like me, who finds themselves more and more often asking someone to sit with their loved one, so they can go and scream in the woods? I full-time carer for an elderly relative who has Dementia.
I apologise for the length of this rant – if you get bored, go straight to the £198 billion surprise …
To make matters worse, I have recently, unfortunately, invited the “Adult Social Care Team” into our lives, so that’s…
Social Workers – who revel in telling you what you have been doing for your loved one for five years is wrong, that their way is much superior, and then having to watch them enjoying belittling you and breaking you down… then in a puff of smoke they disappear, never to be seen again.
The Council – in violation of the country's laws. The Care Act 2014 states that Disability Related Invoices have to be deducted before applying MIG to create a level playing field for those with disabilities but my council choses to ignore that law… and that is why am I am still waiting, on a 22-week waiting list, for adjudication by the Local Government Ombudsmen to hopefully force the council to recognise DRE, as the law dictates.
Medical Professionals – I still have to explain to some medical professionals what Dementia is and how it works when they visit. The community services in our town is mostly poor – our local community teams are owned by a private company, which in turn is owned by a private equity company, both of which are, by their very nature, profit-driven, not care-driven.
MP – I have expressed my feelings that the system is not working for carers, and my MP has labelled me a troublemaker and largely ignores me. After all, I must remember that it is in the government's best interests to ignore carers. If they had to value us and pay us what we are worth, they would lose a large part of their £198 billion a year they save, oh yes, our free labour saves the country £198 billion a year!
So, the government saves £198 billion a year, and what do we get in return, while they make us grovel for Carers Allowance of £4,331.60 per year, which covers very little, and we all know how freely that is given (I am being sarcastic – just look at the fuss when the DWP didn’t keep an eye on their system and overpaid working carers. It was as though they had discovered the evilest money-grabbing people in the country – can I just say to the Government, turn the mirror on yourselves, and then you would be way closer to making that statement true.
So, each carer subsidises the country by £30,000 approx. each year. Does the government even realise that some carers have to use food banks? They can’t afford to subsidise the government with the free care they provide. It’s disgusting that carers who are already struggling are having to bear the brunt of a broken system.
So, my next question is, why are we treated with contempt and like an irritant? We are not treated with a modicum of respect. I call us ‘the other NHS’, as £198 billion a year is spent on the NHS each year. Yeah, folks, our free labour pays for the NHS and yet we are treated like scum, no wonder I have the need to scream so frequently!
Carers are doing the hardest job anyone will ever have to do, while supporting the system and paying for the NHS, yet my experience at every step of the way is that I am a money-grabbing scumbag. Where is the gratitude? If they did show true gratitude, they would have to acknowledge what we do for the country, discuss a living wage for carers, and say goodbye to large portion of their £ 198 billion saving.
I am so frustrated by the broken system and I feel totally unsupported. If carers were well supported and fairly treated, it might not be such a tough pill to swallow, but as carer after carer suffers burnout, as the government laughs and skips all the way to the bank, it leaves me furious but powerless. I have had to fight for every single thing I needed for my loved one; nothing was gratefully given. It is an outrage!
Please do not say Keir Starmer has said kind things about carers. Actions, not words. Words are easy…