September 2009 Archives

Gordon Brown has pulled a rabbit out of the hat at today's Labour Party conference by pledging to introduce free personal care for older people at home with critical care needs.

I have to admit - I'm rather flabbergasted.

No mention of this in July's green paper on funding - and no hint of it before as far as I know.

I am sometimes not sure who gets stigmatised more by stories such as one that appeared this week where several publications were horrified that a man with a mental health condition was allowed to live in the community, where he eventually stabbed a man to death.

Employing a personal assistant through websites like Gumtree is a risk, yes, but is it one service users should be willing to take?

At yesterday's Developing the Adult Social Care Workforce Conference, Haqeeq Bostan from the Essex Coalition for Disabled People said it was.

by Mithran Samuel

Fifty learning disabled artists have helped raise over £13,000 for Norwood at the charity's inaugural art show recently in Camden, north London.

Seventy works were shifted, all of them created by residents of Ravenswood, Norwood's residential community for adults with learning disabilities in Berkshire.