CARE/CARERS

Report of the Standing Commission on Carers 2007 to 2009 (20th October 2009)
The Standing Commission on Carers has published its first annual report, Carers at the heart of 21st century families and communities – work in progress. The report concludes the first stage of the Commission’s work (2007 to 2009) and highlights progress made against the main themes of the national Carers Strategy. It sets out future challenges and opportunities, and contains a number of recommendations and suggestions for the Government, delivery partners and the next phase of the Commission.
Report

Training care home staff to use Talking Mats with people who have dementia (27th October 2009)
It can be difficult for carers and people with dementia to communicate. In recognition of this, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) funded the development and delivery of a project in 2008/2009 that would train care home staff across the UK to use Talking Mats. This system, complete with a textured mat and visual symbols, helps people with communications difficulties to interact.

This paper highlights key findings from the project, including:

• Confident staff who had management support were more likely to do well in training and implement new practice
• Training of this kind is more effective when delivered to a group of staff in one care home
• Talking Mats can benefit people at all stages of dementia, but it is still especially difficult to interact with residents in the later stages of the disease

Summary

Charging for residential care: the property disregard and partners under 60 (27th October 2009)
Letter seeking views on the proposal to amend the 1992 regulations to reflect the longstanding policy and practice of disregarding property where a partner aged under 60 continues to reside in the family home.
Letter and draft regulations