Carers at Breaking Point Abandon Man in Hospital

Jo Williams Mencap's chief executive said:

"This is a shocking example of how society is failing to care for the most vulnerable people. We do not know the circumstances of the family involved but we do know that many of the UK's six million carers, caring for elderly relatives, sick or disabled people, often experience feelings of isolation and hopelessness.

Having campaigned for better support for people with a learning disability for over 50 years, we have seen many examples of families who are doing a tremendous job of caring for their disabled sons or daughters in the family home with little or not support. They also save the government millions of pounds each year by caring for their sons and daughters at home. They do this because they love them and want to go on caring for them but many of them just need some extra support, such as regular short breaks to help them go on caring.”

"Mencap's Breaking Point survey found that six out of ten families are getting no short break at all. Two out of three families who are on a waiting list for short breaks have been on a waiting list for six months or more.”

"We urge the government to put more money into learning disability services to ease the pressure on local authorities, so that they can provide regular consistent short breaks for families who are in desperate need."

- Mencap's homepage can be found at: www.mencap.org.uk

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