£1.5m for personal health budget roll-out

To support the roll-out of personal health budgets £1.5 million has been earmarked to help individuals choose the most appropriate care for them.

A pilot programme involving more than 60 PCTs is underway to look at how the budgets can benefit those who need them, what the funding could be spent on and how personal budgets should be implemented.

People whose complex care needs are paid for by the NHS through the NHS Continuing Healthcare scheme, or those with a range of long-term conditions such as stroke, diabetes, neurological conditions, mental health needs and respiratory problems like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, have been involved in the pilots.

The evaluation is due to be completed in the autumn. To be ready as soon as the findings are known the department of health has now identified £1.5m to be made available to support the first stage of a potential roll-out.

The care and support minister Norman Lamb said: “We want to ensure more care is tailored around people’s individual needs and preferences. Giving those with complex health needs the control of how to spend money on their care gives them and their doctors the flexibility to try innovative new approaches to achieve better health outcomes.

“Subject to the results of the current pilot programme, our aim is to introduce a right to a personal health budget for people who would benefit from them most – the scale and pace of this will be informed by the independent evaluation.”

Vitalise video builds on Paralympic mood to salute disabled people

A charity video celebrating people with disabilities after the Paralympics has become an overnight internet hit, with more than 10,000 views in just three days.

The video was produced by disability charity Vitalise and features the disabled guests, volunteers and staff at its Southport respite holiday centre performing Queen’s feel-good anthem ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’.

It pays tribute to the inspiring achievements of Team GB’s Paralympic athletes, such as Hannah Cockroft and Jonnie Peacock, who are featured in the video.

Vitalise made the recording earlier in the year but decided to delay its release to add its own tribute to Team GB’s Paralympians.

Vitalise’s chief executive Chris Simmonds said: “Thanks to the incredible achievements we witnessed at the Paralympics, disability has never had such a high public profile. We really hope this wave of positivity and goodwill continues.

“This video is our way of saying thank you to our Paralympians, but also of celebrating the achievements of people with disabilities in all walks of life.

“Of course not all people with disabilities are Paralympians, but they all confront their own personal hurdles. In overcoming these obstacles they are performing their own quiet heroics, day in, day out. This video is our salute to that indomitable spirit.”

The video can be viewed on Vitalise’s YouTube channel www.youtube.com/VitaliseOnVideo or via the link: http://youtu.be/p0a2tqYDT_4

Stelios Award opportunity for disabled entrepreneurs

Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou is calling for talented disabled entrepreneurs to apply for this year’s Stelios Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs in the UK.

The award, jointly run by the Stelios Philanthropic Foundation and Leonard Cheshire Disability, recognises the achievements and unique challenges faced by disabled entrepreneurs. Now in its sixth year, it offers a £50,000 cash prize to the winner.

 Applicants have until 5pm on Friday 26 October to apply and the winner will be presented with a cheque at a special ceremony in London on 3 December.

 Sir Stelios said: “I am passionate about encouraging entrepreneurship, and the previous winners of this award offer proof that there are many highly talented disabled entrepreneurs out there.

“With around 50 per cent of disabled adults out of work it is clear that there still is a long way to go. Removing the barriers disabled people face in business is essential, and I hope that the Stelios Award for Disabled Entrepreneurs goes some way to highlighting their achievements.

 “We want to hear from talented disabled entrepreneurs who are able to show they have got what it takes to run a successful business and meet a real need in the market.”

Helen Carter from Leonard Cheshire Disability, who leads on the award, said: “Disabled people in business experience disadvantage and discrimination everyday, largely through ignorance - this must change.

“Our partnership with Sir Stelios is helping the charity highlight the barriers disabled people face in the workplace and recognise the outstanding achievements of disabled entrepreneurs.”

Last year there were two joint winners, Rob Smith and Huw Thomas who each won £50,000 to develop their business.

Rob’s business, The Active Hands Company www.activehands.co.uk, designs, manufactures and sells gripping aids which allow disabled people with limited hand function to grip a wide variety of items.

Huw’s business, Promove UK www.promove.uk.com, designs, manufactures and supplies specialist slings used to rescue, evacuate and transfer sick, injured, disabled or incapacitated people.

To apply or to find out more about the award see www.lcdisability.org/stelios, e-mail innovation@lcdisability.org or call 0845 671 7173 (option 1).

impower survey finds GPs inflate demand for residential care

A survey has found that more than half of GPs don’t fully understand non-residential care services and 67 per cent said they receive little or no support from local councils.

The research by the local government consultancy, impower, revealed GPs inflate demand for residential care by at least 60,000 older people every year because they are not familiar with the alternatives. 

The Home Truths study based on interviews with older people, social care professionals, GPs and directors of adult social care found 82 per cent of GPs believe that a large proportion of older people could avoid or delay entry into residential care.

Jeremy Cooper the director at impower said the study shows that GPs, social workers and local authorities are “locked in a dysfunctional relationship” with lack of understanding between them generating “unnecessary demand for residential care.”

He said: “With financial pressures increasing we need a new approach to health and social care integration now.”

Richard Parry the corporate director of adults and local services at Cumbria County Council, added: “We need to ‘up our game’ when it comes to delaying entry into residential care and challenge widely held perceptions that residential care is the only option.”

impower’s report argues that current efforts to integrate health and social care should be re-focused on the individual relationships between the people who provide these services, which hold the key to reducing demand.

Jeremy Cooper, said: “Our research identifies a much bigger potential opportunity to tackle the social care funding crisis – by deflating demand. The £600m opportunity to reduce residential care bills we have identified is just the tip of the iceberg.

“If local authorities focused on integrating people and culture, rather than just structures and services, they could save billions of pounds in provision of more appropriate, targeted health and social care for older people.”

For more information http://www.impower.co.uk/

RCN urges investment in specialist nurses for children with epilepsy

Commenting on today’s first national audit of epilepsy care for children and young people, The Royal College of Nursing expressed ‘profound concern’ that fewer than half of children with epilepsy had access to a specialist nurse.

RCN chief executive and general secretary, Dr Peter Carter, said: “Epilepsy is clearly being treated very well in many parts of the country, and specialist nurses have led the way in helping children and their families to manage epilepsy. However, it is a matter of profound concern to us that this is not the case everywhere. 

“The recommendation that all children have access to a specialist nurse is there for a reason – the nurse can offer an unparalleled combination of expert clinical advice alongside practical help for children and their families. 

“Too often, without the right advice many children face needless complications which affect not just their health but their education and other activities. We would urge NHS organisations to give every child access to a specialist nurse to keep them as well as possible and to avoid unnecessary and expensive hospital admissions.”

Alzheimer’s Research UK increases funding commitment to £20m

Alzheimer’s Research UK has pledged a further £5.5m investment in new projects, increasing its current funding for research to more than £20million. 

The announcement, which coincides with World Alzheimer’s Day on 21 September includes awards for 52 new grants aimed at understanding the causes of dementia, improving diagnosis and finding new treatments and preventions.

Studies to benefit include:

• A three-year project led by Prof Patricia Salinas, at UCL in London, to study a protein that plays a key role in the destruction of the connections between brain cells, called synapses. The project will also see researchers test whether different molecules can stop synapses being destroyed – the first step towards the development of new drugs to help treat Alzheimer’s.

• A programme at the University of Manchester to investigate how a person’s genetic profile contributes to their risk of frontotemporal dementia. Researchers will screen DNA samples from 1,500 people with the disease and compare them to 1,500 healthy people, to help confirm newly-identified genes that are thought to raise the risk of the disease.

Deborah Gatesman, whose father James was diagnosed with the disease in 2003 at the age of 74 and now lives in a nursing home, said: “We had a two-year struggle to get a diagnosis for Dad, and watching his decline has been absolutely heartbreaking. His symptoms crept on slowly at first, but he gradually began to lose all concept of time and became more and more confused. He’s now in a home where he can receive the specialist care he needs, and even though it’s lovely to visit him, he no longer recognises me. We desperately need new treatments so it’s great to see new money being invested in research.”

Alzheimer’s Research UK is the UK’s leading charity specialising in finding preventions, treatments and a cure for dementia. For more information or to donate www.alzheimersresearchuk.org.

Disabled travellers still face access issues

A survey carried out by Adapted Vehicle Hire and the charity, Tourism For All UK, has revealed that 86 per cent of disabled people think the UK travel industry is still not providing sufficient information about disabled access and facilities. 

The study also found that 87 per cent of respondents had been prevented from travelling because of their disability.  

London was identified as the part of UK with the best disabled access and facilities but despite improvements made in the run up to the Paralympics, the Underground was singled out for criticism.

The UK’s airports and train stations also fared badly in the survey with respondents claiming more needed to be done to make them accessible for all.

However, more than 92 per cent of people thought that disabled access had improved overall in the past ten years – 28 per cent thought that access was ‘significantly better’.

Lorraine Farnon the managing director of Adapted Vehicle Hire, said: “The results clearly demonstrate that despite gradual progress, more needs to be done to make the travel industry more accessible for disabled people.”

Carrie-Ann Lightley, Information Officer from Tourism For All UK, said: “Tourism For All has been campaigning for the past 30 years to improve the range of travel options and facilities for disabled people. Our view is that tourism is important to everyone and we support the government’s aim of making UK tourism the most accessible in Europe.

“Access to some rural and historic sites will always present more of a challenge for disabled visitors, but places like airports have scope for significant improvement to better meet the needs of disabled travellers.”

The survey results also identified Cornwall and Devon as the most popular holiday destination, followed closely by Spain and France.

Several venues from across the UK were praised for their ease of access and suitability for disabled visitors including National Trust properties and the Eden Project in Cornwall.