Latest news with #care
BBC News
23-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Tech glitch leaves some disabled people unable to pay for care
Some disabled people have been left unable to pay for their care because of a glitch in a funding system used by councils across the technical issues mean some carers and personal assistants have not been paid for more than a woman who uses a wheelchair said it had left "vulnerable people and essential workers in limbo".The company that runs the system, Prepaid Financial Services (PFS), apologised and said it was working to "rectify the situation as quickly as possible". Many local authorities provide funds for people who qualify for support by issuing pre-paid cards, which the recipient can use to pay for disabled people use the money to hire care workers or personal assistants, which means they become employers.A Local Government Association (LGA) spokesperson said local councils are working hard to provide alternative payment added that councils are working to ensure continuity of care," especially for those with the highest levels of need". Anne Pridmore, who runs a network for disabled people called Being the Boss, employs five personal assistants for round-the-clock care at her home in care costs £11,000 a month and is funded by Leicester City Council through a pre-paid told the BBC she was worried about the consequences of not being able access the funds, since she could not otherwise afford it."If they don't get paid, my employees could take me to court," she said. "I am their employer so the buck stops with me."Ms Pridmore said she had been left frustrated and angry."This service blackout is leaving vulnerable people and essential workers in limbo, without any viable alternative". Leicestershire County Council said around 3,500 people in the county held pre-paid cards, but not all of them would be impacted by what was a "national" issue.A spokesperson for the council told the BBC it had reached out to those who were affected with "support and advice on what to do if they need to make payments urgently and to ensure that alternative arrangements are in place"."We appreciate the difficulties that this has caused and are doing everything we can to help," the statement added. Nicola from Bradford, who asked the BBC not to report her second name, is a full-time carer for her daughter who has multiple disabilities which require first noticed that she could not log in to her payment account on 14 daughter also has six other carers, and she said the thought of them seeking alternative work as a result was daunting."I will be required to stay awake 24 hours a day, which is not possible and it would probably mean that my daughter will be housebound as I'd not have support to take her out," she BBC has contacted Bradford Council for a response. Sophie Withers, a personal assistant from Morecombe who got in touch with the BBC via Your Voice, Your BBC News, is paid weekly and said she was owed £720 last week because clients had been unable to pay her."My rent was due on Saturday so I was really panicking by Thursday," she said. Ms Withers was able to get an emergency payment from her local authority, but said that was no longer an option this week as it was a one-off gesture."I hope this is resolved quickly. I don't want think about what happens if I can't get paid," she said."I need to pay for petrol which is essential for work, I need supplies like [personal protective equipment] and to pay for food and bills."A spokesman for Lancashire County Council said more than 100 councils and NHS bodies were likely to have been affected by the technical issue. "[PFS] has assured the council that they are urgently working to restore all functionality," he said."We are using our local communications to make sure that service users and their families know how to get the support available." In a statement sent to the BBC on Wednesday afternoon, PFS said "core services have been substantially restored" and customer funds "remained secure and fully protected".It said some of its programs "relied on an external payment processor" but were in the process of being moved to an "in-house processing infrastructure"."We sincerely regret the inconvenience caused and appreciate the patience and understanding shown by our customers and cardholders," it said."This decision, made under exceptional circumstances, reflects our deep commitment to protecting our customers and ensuring long-term service resilience."The LGA said the issues began after a recent platform migration by PFS, and it was aware of issues affecting a number of councils using the system for social care direct payments.
BBC News
18-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Pensioner probably did not get proper treatment
Records detailing a pensioner's care were patchy and he was probably not given the treatment required before he died, a coroner Coffey, who was 85, died at Wexham Park Hospital in Slough in September 2024, 17 days after a fall at home. He had spent about 17 hours on the floor following contracted a chest infection, for which effective pain relief "was not always offered or achieved" and medical records were incomplete, Berkshire's assistant coroner Health NHS Trust was approached to comment. Robert Simpson, Berkshire's assistant coroner, was told that because of his condition, Mr Coffey should have been repositioned from a seated position every two to four seated position would have allowed him to breathe more deeply and cough more effectively, important when treating chest the hospital told Mr Simpson that, following random monthly audits, "this was either not being done or not being properly recorded".Mr Simpson found that Mr Coffey's medical records had multiple gaps, one of up to 27 hours, between 15 September to 27 found Mr Coffey was "probably not repositioned as required".Mr Simpson issued a prevention of future deaths report following Mr Coffey's inquest earlier this NHS Trust must respond to his concerns by September. You can follow BBC Berkshire on Facebook, X (Twitter), or Instagram.
National Post
14-07-2025
- Business
- National Post
Local Politicians and Community Members Join Members of CUPE 5102 to Hold Ice Cream Social to Celebrate the Workers at Red Oak Retirement Community in Kanata
Article content OTTAWA, Ontario — The members of CUPE local 5102 were proud to invite the wider community to join them in celebrating the hard work their members provide to the residents of Red Oak retirement community in Kanata. Article content The ice cream social at 3501 Campeau Dr. ran from 1PM to 5PM on July 11. Local City Councillor Cathy Curry joined at 1PM to help kick off the celebration. Article content Article content 'In my visits to Red Oak Retirement Living, I am always impressed by the beautiful, clean, caring and positive atmosphere. The people who work there are doing some of the most important work in our community – caring for others. I would like to extend my deepest thanks and appreciation for everyone who works at Red Oak Retirement Living. You make Kanata North the type of place where people choose to live,' said Councillor Curry. Article content The members of CUPE 5102 are in the process of negotiating their next collective agreement with the for-profit Sienna Group, who own and operate Red Oak. At issue are sub-standard wages that have been stagnant since 2023. Article content Article content Article content Article content Article content Contacts Article content For More information, Contact: Article content Article content Article content
BBC News
11-07-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Cowgill landslip detour adds hours to family's care trips
The parents of a disabled child who spend 15 hours each week navigating a rural road closure to access care for him have taken their fight to Parliament.A landslip last year shut the main road that Barney and Harvie Strange take from their rural home in Cowgill, near Sedbergh in Cumbria, to Ingleton, where their son Rafferty receives specialised care and their two other children attend means a 20-minute trip now takes 50 minutes, which Mr Strange said was "devastating" for the and Furness Council said it was "actively developing" a scheme to reopen the route, however it was aware the process was taking time. Rafferty, who is 20 months old, has a rare muscular condition which means he is quadriplegic, has to be fed via a tube and has significant difficulties with his family arranged to train a carer who lives in Ingleton, to make the school run and logistics easier, but the landslip hit two weeks after the carer had qualified. The detour is not just costing the family about £300 more in fuel each month, but is also potentially dangerous for Rafferty, they say."With somebody with complex needs as our boy Rafferty, it's really difficult to transport him around," Mr Strange, 40, said."One of the problems he has is that he vomits and then he's unable to clear his own airways, so we have to suction his airways or tip him upside down, and when we transport him in the car, that's much harder."He said much of the caring and driving to appointments was done by Mrs Strange, 39, who also juggles looking after their other two children - Wallace, four, and Dilys, two. Mr Strange, who works as a paramedic, has set up a campaign group which is pressing Westmorland and Furness Council to find a this week, he travelled with his wife and Rafferty to Parliament with a delegation from charity Hospice organisation lobbies government for policy change and represent hospices across the UK, including Jigsaw, a children's hospice based in Carlisle which supports the Strange spoke to a group of MPs as part of the launch of a report called Bringing Care Closer to Home, which highlights inequalities that exist in rural communities for those who are dying or life-limited, such as lack of transport and the need to provide care at a said he felt listened to by the MPs and the report was due to be considered as part of the government's 10-year NHS plan."We were asked to go down partly because of the landslip, but also because of our experience with having a boy who is under the palliative care service, about the difficulties of living rurally," Mr Strange said the couple chose to raise their children in the countryside "in pursuit of a simple and innocent life," but until he was faced with the challenges of accessing care for Rafferty, he had not appreciated the inequalities faced by families in rural areas. Rafferty receives specialist care at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool, as well as at hospitals in Lancaster and Kendal."It's a hard life for us now," Mr Strange said."Rafferty is a gorgeous happy little boy, it's just the situation we're in."The family, together with the community group they set up, are calling for Westmorland and Furness Council to create a temporary route through the diversion, while they continue to find a permanent solution to reopen the Strange said: "We don't want to be in a position in the winter, where we're having to take our profoundly disabled boy over the hills, which are almost inaccessible, and then he has difficulties with his airways. "That is a genuinely life-threatening emergency that, short of us staying at home for the whole winter, I can't avoid."Westmorland and Furness Council said it was required to follow legal procedures to deliver a long-term solution and they were aware of the frustration the diversion had added the council was working with a contractor to actively develop "a proposed scheme" and was "preparing to carry out the necessary works to reopen the route, which is a top priority for the council". Follow BBC Cumbria on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
ABC News
11-07-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Mum pushing to keep son in Lismore hospital says NDIS help not keeping him safe
The family of a man with profound disabilities says a lack of care and support by the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is putting his life at risk. Twenty-year-old Annan Murray-Macgregor has several conditions including autism, a profound intellectual disability, and a type of degenerative motor neurone disease. His mother, ToyNera, said he was allocated NDIS funding to cover one support worker for eight hours a day at their home on the New South Wales North Coast. "I've been left to do too much by myself and the support workers were being left without sufficient supports for them," she said. "We've all been incurring injuries and it's not safe for Annan." The ABC has seen letters from an occupational therapist and a behaviour support practitioner recommending Mr Murray-Macgregor receive 24/7 care from two support workers. Mr Murray-Macgregor has emotional outbursts in which he can self-harm or be violent. Support worker Kylie Hanney said it was not just about his safety, but also those working to care for him. "I've watched him become less mobile, his language deteriorate, very unstable on his feet," she said. "As a consequence, he's in more pain and therefore more behaviours. "Whenever we call [about more funding], we're always told that that person doesn't have the authority to approve the care that Annan needs." Ms Macgregor said she reached breaking point around a month ago. She delivered her son to Lismore Base Hospital in northern NSW because she could no longer care for him at home. Around a dozen friends, family and carers joined her at a rally outside the hospital on Wednesday, after she was told Mr Murray-Macgregor would be discharged against her wishes. The hospital agreed not to discharge her son, but Ms Macgregor said there was still not enough support funding to allow her to keep her son safe at home. Ms Macgregor said she felt hospital management had failed to provide an accurate assessment of her son's needs to the NDIS as part of the hospital discharge report. She said they had left out details of his seizures and an incident in which four staff were needed to help restrain him. "They don't want this to be a successful experience of having his needs met, and also for the NDIS to give sufficient funding at the end of this, because they … can't have a million people doing what we're doing," Ms Macgregor said. "I have no choice but to leave him here and keep fighting and fighting them, when they're desperately trying to get us out the door. In a statement, the Northern NSW Local Health District said Mr Murray-Macgregor would not be discharged until a safe transition to suitable community-based care could be arranged. It said it would continue to work with the patient, his family, and relevant agencies including the NDIS to support this transition, which was a key part of the discharge planning process. Ms Macgregor and her son were left homeless after record-breaking floods in 2022. They were placed in temporary accommodation in one of the region's pod villages, which are now gradually being decommissioned, leaving their future in doubt. Ms Macgregor said the NDIS and broader health system needed to be better funded to provide adequate care. "There's no reason in Australia why health and why NDIS are underfunded. There's no excuse for it." Mr Murray-Macgregor was earlier offered funding for supported independent living, but his mother said it would have been inappropriate for him to share care with another NDIS participant given his high level of needs. His NDIS plan is currently before the Administrative Review Tribunal. In a statement, the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) said Mr Murray-Macgregor and his family were being supported by a dedicated hospital liaison officer to ensure his safe discharge. "The NDIA's priority is the safety and welfare of every participant and ensuring they receive the disability-related supports they need," it said. "As Annan has a case before the Administrative Review Tribunal for increased supports, it is not appropriate for the agency to comment on specific matters."
