You may remember that last year we became involved in the North London Citizens (NLC) campaign for better social care for people living at home or in care homes, and better work conditions for their carers.
At a large public meeting in the Friends House in the Euston Road on October 15th 2013, which I chaired, a Care Charter was launched as a result of all the conversations and research made by members of NLC. The launch was backed by private healthcare companies, including Bupa, along with London council leaders, carers and elderly people themselves, to signify the depth of feeling about the issue. The Charter identifies specific standards of care provision and care commissioning which we hope will lead to a better quality service for the cared for and dignity for the carers.
The standards are as follows:
Proper training: care workers trained to a high standard which includes dealing with dementia, moving and handling, and mental health.
Better relationships: Consistency of care worker to care recipient; eg 90% of care provided by small teams of named primary care workers; an effective strategy to involve communities and build relationships
Enough time: at least 30 minutes for home care visits; home care workers paid for travel time between visits; sufficient staffing in care homes.
Dignity in work: a living wage for care workers; an occupational sick pay scheme; a clear pathway for career progression.
Building a movement for this campaign involves, among others, faith communities building stronger relationships between generations, and with local residential care homes. It also involves our becoming more aware of the nature of dementia and the effect it can have on families and friends. We can also play a part in bringing these issues to our local councillors and MPs when they are seeking re-election.
At the moment this church is linked with the Branch Hill Care Home where the clergy and a few members of the congregation take communion once a fortnight; and with Henderson Court where some members of the congregation live, and where we occasionally help with social events and for whose day care centre we raise money. The pastoral working party is looking into the possibility of a monthly tea party for people with dementia. And members of the Social Action Working party are involved in the NLC campaign.
Representatives of this campaign have met with the Liberal Democrat Minister of State for Care and Support, Norman Lamb, to present to him our Charter and to seek his support for our campaign. In a very positive meeting, he listened carefully to our concerns and asked some helpful questions. He also assured us that some of these points were being covered in the care Bill currently going through Parliament, (www.hscpartnership.org.uk/policy-and-consultancy/publications/care-bill-2013-key-points) We hope to be able to keep him informed of the ongoing developments in our campaign. The next important date in our calendar is March 20th (tbc) when ten representatives of each member community of NLC will come together – if you are interested in being involved in this campaign please let me know – it’s important that as many people as possible can attend such meetings.
At the beginning of February we celebrate the feast of Candlemas, commemorating the visit to the Temple by Mary and Joseph to make the appropriate sacrifices in recognition of Jesus’ birth. There they meet two elderly figures – Simeon and Anna, the later being 84, a remarkably long life for a women of those days. The child is only 40 days old. It is a curious story which makes one ask how they could possibly have recognised this child as special, and why it seems that for Simeon at least simply to see the child is a sufficient fulfilment of his hopes. (Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace) Who are these two people? One biblical critic has suggested they were representatives of “The Poor Ones’, a spiritual group identifying with the poor, sick, downtrodden, and bereaved, who found a meaningful shape for their lives through regular prayer in the Temple and a pattern of fasting which was unusual but which perhaps underlined their sense of dependence on the Holy Spirit and their waiting for this moment in which God would provide the sign that He was doing a new thing.
In ways which are kept hidden from the reader the Holy Spirit draws them to this child. Their meeting results in a scene which has inspired many artists, perhaps because of this encounter between people from the outer edges of life, close to birth and death and each in their different ways dependent on the care of others. And yet the meeting is one of hope, and dawning fulfilment and it gives the child’s mother much to ponder.
Our involvement in the NLC social care campaign has to do with those who are most dependent in our society. Our hope is that our different campaigning communities can come together with elderly people whose dependency needs we want to see better met, and with the carers to help them find a better recognition and reward for their work, and that out of these meetings we can build up support at borough and parliamentary levels which will bring about a lasting change. And as a result of this work we also hope to demonstrate that faith communities can make a difference to our society and that faith is an inspiring source of change. We see a problem; we are inspired by it; we become
The Vicar Writes
Stephen Tucker