Yes to free, quality care – we’ve earned it!
No to charging, rationing, profiteering and neglect.
 Maria Nash, Barnet 2013 |
Justice for Jennyfer Spencer, Camden 2010 |
Camden pensioners vs cuts to day centres |
- Living longer is a blessing, not a “problem”. If more people need care, why are fewer and fewer getting the services we need to live independently? The NHS, benefits & care are key to welfare. Like the NHS, care should be free. We’ve paid for it with a lifetime of unwaged caring work, wages and taxes. Many of us are counted on to look after our grandchildren.
- Every year, thousands of us die prematurely from fuel poverty, or go without heating and food to pay care charges.
- Greedy bankers, landlords and corporations must pay their tax billions. Our taxes mustn’t be used for bonuses & wars – then there’d be plenty for everyone’s survival and well-being.
- Coping with illness and disability is hard work. Women look after other people while coping with our own disability. But our workload is not recognised, let alone reduced. Having to rely on partners and family for care, leads to stress, abuse and breakdown.
- Most pensioners are women. We’re left neglected and starving – at home, in hospitals and residential homes. Companies profit while paid carers get a pittance. In 2011, the Supreme Court allowed rich Kensington & Chelsea to cut pensioner Elaine McDonald’s care at night. Those of us working class, people of colour, immigrant & asylum seekers are judged to deserve even less.
- Disabled mothers who need Council assistance are threatened with foster care.
- People on direct payments don’t get the support and help we need to manage our own care arrangements; we suffer when problems arise.
We don’t want care “reforms” that endorse: lifetime charges of £££ thousands * A new tax from age 40 to pay for care in later life * Private insurance for care * Abandoning or reducing the Council’s duty of care to vulnerable people.
All of us rely on services. We’re determined to reverse charging, rationing, privatisation, neglect & profiteering – our survival depends on it.
Invest in Caring not Killing!