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Helping our bravest families
Over the recent months I have been working on a Private Member's Bill to improve the amount and quality of respite care available for families looking after severely disabled children.
These families work tirelessly around the clock for their loved ones with no breaks or time off, often with little or no support and yet are surely among the most deserving in our country.
My Bill attempted to help these heroic families by providing regular short-term respite care for their disabled children so they could have a night off to relax, spend time with other children or simply catch up on much needed sleep. I have met with many of these families and have always been impressed and moved by their utter devotion to caring for their children, and for their modesty and bravery.
My Bill was talked out last Friday after several hours of debate in the House of Commons, but I am feeling positive about the improved prospects for these families. The government has promised a review of how funding is used in this sector, and hopefully this will lead to a better distribution of the resources, giving families better and more frequent support. In addition to this, more funding for emergency respite care has been announced and the campaign team I have been working with continue to promote the issue and raise its profile.
Hopefully we will continue to make progress in getting a stronger, more efficient support network around some of the most vulnerable in our society. I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Yours,
Gary
posted by Gary Streeter M.P. on Tuesday, February 27, 2007
1 Comments:
I have sympathy for all people who devote their lives to caring for relatives, be they severely disabled children or elderly parents. I don’t know the numbers involved, but those with the care of elderly parents must be increasing as life expectancy becomes ever greater and I am sure that these carers are in as great a need of respite care. Recent cut backs in funding for day care provision makes their plight even more urgent.
I cannot predict the outcome of yet another government review, but feel that it is most likely to commit local authorities to more spending that is not going to be funded from central government. This will mean yet more increases in Council Tax that will hit the pockets of people on small fixed incomes like pensioners who have seen their cost of living, especially in the south west, rise by many percentage points above the small rises in their pension. Fuel, water and sewerage charges, council taxes and the cost of labour is eroding the standard of living for an increasing number of pensioners.
Unless a fairer system of local taxation based on income is introduced, I can see local authorities being increasingly less able to provide any of the services that we expect our society to deliver, including respite for carers. We have already seen how inadequate care in the community for people with mental health problems has been, and closures of homes for the elderly and day centres across the region. Local services seem to be close to collapse as government increases the burden of responsibility to Councils and yet fails to provide any additional money to pay the bills.
I haven’t heard yet how the Conservatives intend to deal with the problem of local taxation…….
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