Safety and Security - doorstep and telephone traders

We have had a number of queries recently relating to the issues that traders - in all guises - cause to people with dementia and their carers.

We have arranged an open event with Trafford Trading Standards. At Kempton Court, off Ascot Avenue, Sale, M33 4GU

Tuesday 24th January 2012 from 2:00 - 4:30pm

They will be able to supply information about their services in Trafford and answer any questions about security for people with dementia.

If you have any questions in the meantime, please don't hesitate to call Age UK Trafford's dementia service on 0161 746 3944.

Not only are people with memory loss more vulnerable to scams and confidence tricksters, but impaired judgement can mean that legitimate traders - including utility companies, charities and door step sellers - cause a bigger problem, because they are more visible, more numerous and more likely to appeal to people who may have heard of them or used them previously.  

We are bombarded more than ever with persuasive images and messages - and most people are able to use judgement in dealing with these, which means we can ignore them, tell someone we are not interested or know when something is not genuine. When someone has impaired social judgement - a particular presentation of some dementias affecting the frontal and temporal lobes, but can also result from a less tangible combination of memory loss and altered insight or mood in other dementias - they may be more vulnerable to persuasion.

There are no easy solutions, because the risks are so wide ranging and many companies and charities are advertising legitimately. Even a doorstop seller with a social conscience may not detect that the person they are talking to has dementia as they may present perfectly well in the short, amiable conversation. You also cannot assume that someone with dementia is not able to decide to donate to charity or buy something - as always it is recognising when something has gone beyond informed decisiveness - when a quirk for something becomes problematic. When desire to support charity becomes an unaffordable response to automated requests.

Stickers requesting no cold callers at the door, and services such as the telephone and mailing preference lists should reduce contact from considerate and law abiding sellers, but in effect means that contact is then more likely to be from unscrupulous traders or scamsters, and the risk of loss higher. There is then the question of reporting those who flout the preference-service laws, and resolving issues where money is lost and contracts signed - stress that most carers would rather live without.

Trading Standards in Trafford have a communication system whereby anyone signed up receives information about known scams and rogue traders operating in the area, and it may be that greater use of communication within communities is the best way to reduce the risks. 



We'll be closed between Friday 23rd December and Monday 2nd January but back on Tuesday the 3rd bright and early.

Carers Christmas Meal and Trip to Christmas Markets

We have one place left on our carers' Christmas Lunch at the Swinging Bridge in Urmston.

We need to fill this as soon as possible to get our orders in.

Friday 16th December

12:00 midday - should be time to leave to pick up loved ones from day support (if not I can put your pudding in a box and deliver it to your doorstep)

Swinging Bridge, Traffford Boulevard, round by the Trafford Centre, off junction 10 of M60 (more precise directions available)

Three Courses for £14.99   choose from:

Starters - Carrot, Honey and Coriander soup;    Chicken Liver Pate;       Mushroom, Blue Cheese and Garlic Bruschetta,         Prawn Cocktail   or      Melon

Mains -    Turkey;       10 oz Rump Steak with Mushroom & Brandy sauce;        Salmon Fillet with Tomato, Basil and Caper sauce;            Stilton, Shallot and Walnut Tart;             Duck and Pork Sausages with Juniper & Red Wine Sauce

Desserts - Christmas Pudding;          Belgian Waffles;         Profiteroles;              Mince Pie Ice Cream;            Ice Cream    

If you would like to come please call Lise on 0161 746 3944 as soon as possible.


We also have places left on our coach to Manchester Christmas Markets on 13th December. We will be leaving Urmston Manor Avenue car park at 11:30 and returning by 3:30. Drop and pick up Manchester at the Slug and Lettuce on Albert Square. No travel cost involved, again please contact Lise on 746 3944 if you're interested.  

Have your say on health services in Trafford

For our next peer support meetings, we welcome a visitor from Trafford Voluntary Community Action.

Lynsey Cottle works with people to find out what their experiences of health care services in Trafford have been, and encourage suggestions of how any problems, barriers or negative experiences can be improved upon. Lynsey feeds back to both the local Primary Care Trust and Local Authority and takes a proactive approach to eliciting change for the better.

If you have memory loss or a diagnosis of dementia, or care for someone with dementia, and would like to have a say in your local services, we would love to hear from you.

Please contact Lise on 0161 746 3944 or come along to one of our groups below.

Newhaven Extra Care Tuesday 29th November 10:00 - 1:00 Tulip Drive, Timperley

Butler Court Wednesday 7th December 1:00 - 3:30 Lacy Street, Stretford

As always please don't hesitate to call if you have any questions.

Information, Information, Information

A recent conference for carers in Altrincham sought carers' views on the relationships between health and social care providers and the carers themselves. The key issue was one of information; how it is communicated, how much, how comprehensive, how timely. 

The problem is that caring is not something that necessarily happens by choice, nor does it have a definite 'start' point, at which people know what is happening, what they need to know and where they can go to find it. Information is therefore often passed on by chance, and possibly after a period of difficulty which may have been helped or prevented by having information in advance. Families often find themselves in situations that are life changing - a diagnosis of a condition that may not be cured, or which may be degenerative, an acquired injury - and reliant on someone, a medic, social worker, etc - to anticipate what they need to know.

It would seem logical that in this age of information and communication - never before have we been able to impart knowledge so quickly to so many people - provision of information would improve as means of communication also develop. However the downside of ease of communication is that quality cannot always be assured, neither can appropriateness of information, and it is this need for good quality information, given in the right way at the right time that means skill of judgement must be employed by those in the professions of care.

When looking at dementia, the difficulty of appropriate information provision is magnified due to the variety of presentations across three or more generations. This is not unique to dementia - every illness is subject to individual circumstance - but the interaction of social and medical factors, the differences in severity at which people ask for help, the variable diagnoses which implicate different treatment pathways, the different responses from people with dementia and carers in coping with a diagnosis, mean that dementia poses a particular challenge for agencies involved.

Carers at the conference asked whether information about all available services could be posted in one place - which sounds like a stonking idea, until you think about the number of different services that people want to access, which come and go as funding is provided and stopped, and staff, volunteers and entrepeneurs move on, venues and costs alter, regulations change. To keep this information comprehensive and up to date would require significant attention, and to enable people to access information that is appropriate for them and not misleading, and accessible to all at the time they want it, means an element of human interaction is necessary. This is what makes information provision so difficult, as practitioners we can't guarantee to seek out everyone who wants help - the population affected by dementia is fluid and sufficiently numerous that those who accept contact and support straight away are going to be more visible to services than those who are initially reticent.
The nature of caring is such that a reluctance to receive support doesn't indicate that everything is ticking over nicely - and it may be that a misapprehension has led to this reluctance, so avenues for accessing information need to be open, visible and gently assertive over time to ensure they can be accessed at any time.

We can only hope that changes to service provision won't damage our abilityto manage this information provision in such a way to enable as many people as possible to access what they need, at the right time.

It would seem wrong to talk about information and not point people to key websites in Trafford.

www.ageuk.org.uk/trafford Age UK Trafford's local website

www.trafford.gov.uk/myway  Adult Social Care in Trafford

http://www.traffordcarerscentre.org.uk/ Supporting all carers of adults in Trafford

http://www.traffordwellbeing.org.uk/ Details organisations helping people in Trafford

Up Coming groups and events

It has been a while since our events and groups have been updated, so I thought it is a good time to let people know what is on and where you can meet us!


Our November peer support dates are as follows:


Wednesday 2nd November - Butler Court, Lacy Street, Stretford 1pm - 3.30
Jenny Graham, Occupational Therapist with Trafford Memory Service is joining us to talk about what can be done to help people with memory loss live independently.


Wednesday 9th November - High Lee House, Broad Road, Sale 10am - 12.30
Friday 19th November - Wellington House, Sandy Lane, Stretford 10am - 12.30
Tuesday 29th November - Newhaven Extra Care, Tulip Drive, Timperley 10am-12.30

New people always welcome, either show up on the day or contact Lise and Joanna on 746 3944 if you have questions.


Other Events


Dementia Adviser and our day support co-ordinator will be joining Trafford Carers Centre at their carers conference on Thursday 3rd November, The Hub, Pownall Road, Altrincham.
Two sessions of information stands, question and answer forum and access to carers assessments, between 2.00 - 4.30 and 6.00 - 8.30.
All carers are welcome, even if you have not been in touch with the Carers Centre before, please don't hesitate to contact on 0161 848 2400 and book a place.


Trafford Memory Assessment Service is piloting a post-diagnostic support and education course for those recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's and their respective family carer.
This exciting new project intends to help people adjust to their diagnosis and improve the experience of sourcing and accessing the support that is available within Trafford - too often carers and people with dementia find out by chance or upon crisis what is out there. The focus will be on future planning, and provide information on dementia, life books, legal and financial issues, and coping strategies. We hope that this will set the scene for a continued improvement in experience of receiving a diagnosis and beyond, and have a lasting legacy as people will learn how to manage their symptoms and access support that helps them live a good quality of life, rather than at a point of crisis.


We also have the first peer support holiday coming up - five days in Llandudno with a turkey and tinsel theme thrown in for good measure in the middle of November, I feel excited enough for them all.


We also have a peer support lunch at the Swinging Bridge in Urmston on 16th December to mark the last meeting of the year, and hopefully close 2011 on a high.


As always, we are here to talk, listen or nod and smile - call Lise on 0161 746 3944, come see us in the Age UK Trafford office, 20a Station Road, Urmston, or drop in to Kempton Court, Ascot Avenue, Sale on a Tuesday afternoon.

Council Tax Exemption, Mental Capacity and the Right to Vote

I had a query yesterday regarding the implications of claiming the Severe Mental Impairment exemption for the purposes of calculating council tax. Specifically, what is the relation between being certified Severely Mentally Impaired, and being able to vote?

The title 'severe mental impairment' itself is a difficult one to come to terms with - it is a blunt label that has a tinge of language used in a previous age - the word 'mental' has connotations that once had a great stigma attached, and which people may still associate with the large hospitals that we housed our mentally impaired people in past decades. But it is a catch all phrase that enables anyone, not just with dementia, but who may have another condition permanently affecting cognitive functioning, in legal terms to be exempt from liability for council tax.

Incidentally, the term Severe Mental Impairment for the purposes of council tax is not related to the severe mental impairment used in the Mental Health Act 1983 - its use stems from the Local Government Finance Act 1992 detailing the changes brought in with the abolishment of poll tax. The two are not to be confused.

The thinking behind the exemption is that those with permanent conditions affecting cognition and social functioning are not able to understand local issues that council tax is spent on, and therefore cannot be considered to have a stake or accountability in said issues.

After establishment of permanent condition such as Alzheimer's, eligibility for attendance allowance or other qualifying benefit, the doctor must then certify the person as having a Severe Mental Impairment.

Because dementias are progressive, and often gradual in their course, I often receive questions about whether someone can claim the severe mental impairment exemption - and the answer often is, I can't be sure. The judgement made by the doctor is just that, a judgement based on their knowledge of the person, to decide whether they have the ability to comprehend local issues and therefore whether their impairment is 'severe' enough to warrant exemption. There is no clear boundary or point at which this occurs - as is the case in many dementia related issues. If the doctor is unsure, after consulting with fellow medical practitioners, they are advised to exercise caution and not certify. This is possibly where some carers and people with dementia end up having long waits to hear about their application - whichever disease is causing the dementia, will get worse over time, so it is possible that someone ineligible at the time of application may consequently be eligible several months later.

So to the question of voting - it is important to note that the electoral register is created separately to the council tax, and the two are subject to different legislation. Although it is not the only Act of parliament that impacts on deciding whether someone has the right to vote, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 is most relevant in this circumstance. Just because someone is exempt from paying council tax on grounds of severe mental impairment, does not mean they are unable to understand the process of voting, make a decision (wisely or not!) as to who they wish to vote for, and express that decision.

These considerations - whether someone can understand the information related to the decision, retain long enough to decide, make a decision and communicate that decision - are used by the Mental Capacity Act 2005 to establish whether someone lacks the mental capacity to decide, and only when there is reason to question that we don't have capacity. In many circustances - for example, deciding whether to employ a carer, or have medical treatment, or wear a warm coat on a hot day, the person's best interests must be the basis for making each decision on their behalf. However, when voting is concerned, the law states that a voting decision is one that cannot be made on behalf of a person - therefore if someone does not have mental capacity to cast a vote, they are excluded from being able to vote. 

It is important to be clear that presence of a condition such as Alzheimer's or any other dementia, does not in itself remove the right or mental capacity to vote. All steps should be taken to enable someone to make and communicate an informed decision. If someone with dementia lives alone, has nobody to support them in registering to vote, to get to the polling station at the right time on the right day, or arrange a postal or proxy vote, they are likely to lose out on their right to vote, despite still possibly being able to do all these things and cast a vote with appropriate support.    

Links to useful websites:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/YourlocalcouncilandCouncilTax/CouncilTax/DG_10037422

http://www.trafford.gov.uk/adviceandbenefits/counciltax/

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2005/9/contents

http://www.aboutmyvote.co.uk/

http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/

redditch.whub.org.uk/cms/docs/smi%20notes.doc

Speakers Announced for Alzheimer's Research UK Talks

Talks by Tim Parry (Alzheimer's Research UK),

Brenda Reah (Neurology Social Worker for Salford Royal Foundation NHS Trust),

Prof David Mann (University of Manchester),

Prof Julie Snowden (University of Manchester),

Steve Chew-Graham (Brains for Dementia Research)

Free parking plus tea and coffee

2.00 - 4.30

Saturday 22nd October

Chancellors Hotel, Fallowfield