Healthy living Blog
Carer Diary
November 14, 2007: the cost of caring
Marianne Talbot, who cares for her mother with Alzheimer's disease, finally finds the pot of gold but it's not so much at the end of the rainbow, more at the centre of a bureaucratic maze
It looks as if I am finally going to get direct payments!
This means that the county council will allocate a sum of money to me to cover some of the costs of mum’s care. What a relief this will be.
Given that mum can’t be left alone, I can only go out if she is at Willows, her day care centre, or someone comes in to look after her. Willows is only open between 10 am and 3.00 pm, so I turn into a pumpkin at about 2.30 pm to get home in time for the bus. It doesn’t make for a great social life (makes work difficult too!).
But I am determined to have a social life. This is for mum’s sake as much as mine. I dread to think what I’d be like with her if I didn’t get out occasionally.
I have a good system for getting friends and family to help (see my Tips For Carers ) , but mostly I have to use them for work. For my social life, therefore, I use professional carers. But they cost a minimum of £10 - £15 per hour.
Going for a pizza with friends, therefore, costs me £25 for the meal, and £60 for the carer (7pm until 10 pm for the evening, plus half an hour’s travelling time each way). £85 quid for a cheap night out! Not many nights a week I can do this.
Then sometimes I have to work at weekends, and can’t get friends or relatives to help. For the privilege of working over the weekend it costs me a minimum of £120, but more likely £180.
My weekend’s pay is £81.
I don’t pay all care costs myself. Mum contributes £70 per week. She can’t afford more because she is on the minimum income guarantee. But it helps.
But isn’t it the pits?! You wouldn’t believe that carers save the government £87 billion a year - £87 billion!!! Every year!!
I think I’ll organise a carers’ strike. We would take our piglets* to the nearest hospital (shopping centre, train station – all suggestions welcome) and simply leave them. We’d inform the media of course so there’d be heart-rending pictures of abandoned piglets in every newspaper and on every television channel.
But what should we demand to end our strike? It would be marvellous just to get what we’re actually entitled to. But perhaps we should be more ambitious? Perhaps we should ask for some reasonable percentage of what we’re really worth?
The real risk is that having relieved ourselves of our caring responsibilities we won’t want to go back.
Dear oh dear... what would the state do then?
* Person I Give Love and Endless Therapy - See The Selfish Pig's Guide to Caring by Hugh Marriott, completely brilliant!
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