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Calls for providers to follow London borough’s example
Edited by Andy Porter: A coalition of major charities is calling for pet–friendly sheltered housing policies introduced by Wandworth Council to be adopted nationwide.
The ‘Pets for Life’ campaign, led by the Society for Companion Animal Studies [SCAS] and The Blue Cross, encourages older people’s housing providers to allow elderly residents to keep pets.
Help the Aged and Age Concern also support the initiative.
The campaign highlights Wandsworth, which has permitted pets in sheltered schemes since 2001, as a model for others to follow.
Research shows that around 25 per cent of people over retirement age are pet owners. However, only a small minority of older peoples’ housing providers permit their residents to keep animals.
This means many elderly residents are forced to part–company with their pets when they move into residential care.
Wandsworth’s executive member for housing Martin D Johnson said: “Pet ownership is an enriching part of many elderly people’s lives. As well as offering companionship, they keep their owners active and are a link to social activities that prevent isolation.
“We’ve had pets in our sheltered schemes for nine years without a single significant problem. Our experience proves this type of housing can easily accommodate animals and there is no need to deny elderly people the pleasures and benefits of pet ownership.
“We want other housing providers to rethink their attitudes to animals and realise the huge benefits they represent.”
Elizabeth Ormerod, chairman of the Society for Companion Animal Studies and a practising vet said: “The importance of pets to older people cannot be understated; for some they are their best friend, their family and their only lifeline to the outside world. When age or ill health forces someone to move into care, why should they be parted from a loyal companion who offers them unconditional love and support, comfort and constancy?”
In July this year Nick Palmer MP presented a new bill to the Commons calling for consistent national guidelines on pets in care homes based on the Wandsworth model.
To find out more about the Pets for Life campaign visit website at: www.scas.org.uk.
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Public consultation will run until 29 January 2010
Edited by Kaarina Miles: London Councils are asking Londoners their views on how a capital–wide budget of up to £28 million should be spent.
Currently around 360 voluntary groups receive funding from London Councils across 59 priority areas and include schemes giving disabled people the opportunity to play sport, helping women affected by domestic violence work towards independent lives and working with young people to prevent them becoming involved with gun crime.
Voluntary services have experienced an increase in demand due to the recession with rises in unemployment, an increase in debt and other related side–effects, such as more people suffering from depression.
London Councils is now looking at what areas should be a priority for its funding from April 2011.
The consultation will run until 29 January 2010.
People can respond online, in writing or at one of a series of consultation meetings. Places are pre–book only, on a first–come–first–served basis, and are available for the following meetings:
- Ealing, Wednesday 25 November,
- Central London, Thursday 26 November,
- Wood Green, Wednesday 2 December.
Telephone: 0207 934 9622 for information on the consultation and the London Councils grants scheme. Alternatively, visit website at: www.londoncouncils.gov.uk.
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Advice for NHS organisations and local authorities
Edited by Nick Adams: The Dementia Services Guide, published by Healthcare for London, offers advice to the NHS and local authorities on how to improve services and offers practical information on the checks that should be undertaken at every stage – from the GP surgery, through to ambulance and hospital care and care–in–the–community.
The guidelines promote early diagnosis and more support for people to live at home for longer. They recommend that health and social care providers should try to slow the progress of dementia with physical exercise, cognitive stimulation, and social activity.
Specialist mental health nurses or other healthcare professional should be assigned to each London borough to support carers; and a senior clinician should take the lead for quality improvement in dementia care in every acute hospital in the capital, according to the guidelines.
Rapid access memory services should also be commissioned to provide expertise in early identification and treatment and support for living well with dementia in the community, and care plans should be prepared to detail the precise needs of patients’ physical, psychological, and social health needs.
Less than half of the capital’s GPs believe they have received sufficient basic and post-qualification training to diagnose and manage dementia, says Healthcare for London, which advises better training across the health sector.
For further information visit Healthcare for London online at: www.healthcareforlondon.nhs.uk.
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