Once again the Tory government’s behaviour betrays its real attitude to people with disabilities.
People with disabilities who rely on carers who come to their homes are being forced to make a “hobson’s choice” between their health and their care – the loss of which would also harm their health.
The government can protest all it wants that it has given guidance for the social care sector on coping with coronavirus – but this does not cover individual disabled people who use their direct payments to employ their own carers.
There are also concerns over how disabled people employing their own PAs can secure supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as gloves, aprons and masks.
Disability News Service provides details of the NHS’s confused and contradictory response to one such person’s inquiries.
“She began showing flu-like symptoms this week and said she was originally advised by NHS 111 to “self-isolate”, after she described her symptoms over the phone.
“But when she explained that she relied on care workers visiting her twice daily, she was put on hold by the telephone adviser, before eventually being told that it was OK for her care workers to come in as usual, as long as appropriate hygiene measures were taken.
“She ignored this advice and is instead attempting to self-isolate without any support from care workers.
“She said the information she received could mean that other disabled people could be receiving care from a care worker who has come “directly from houses of people in self-isolation, on direct instructions from 111.”
It seems clear that the government does not have a clue about how to ensure these people get the support they need.
Worse still, This Writer is concerned that ministers may be sitting on solutions rather than putting into practice actions that might cost money.
It says everything about Tory priorities that £330 billion is splurged on policies to protect the economy from coronavirus – but the workers who fuel that economy, and people who are already suffering from long-term illnesses and disabilities, are left to choke on it.
Source: Coronavirus: Government ‘has abandoned’ disabled people on direct payments – Disability News Service
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