Advice and information for anyone caring for someone elderly, or someone with dementia

Maintaining brain health for people with dementia Physical health, nutrition, mood . . . caregivers of aging parents with dementia are vigilant about monitoring and addressing so many aspects of their loved one’s well-being, but what about brain health? The emotional roller coaster which comes with processing the cognitive decline of a parent or other […]

About you carers? You care for a loved one, simply because you care for them or love them but who cares for you. Would you know where to turn if you needed help or support? Would your GP be sympathetic and supportive if your caring duties were grinding you down? It is well documented in […]

It’s official Caron Cares is a Top 10 UK Health Blog I am incredibly pleased and slightly humbled to have had Caron Cares listed as one of the UK’s top 10 Health blogs, alongside social media legends such as the “Mental Elf” and “Evidentially Cochrane”. This has led to a blogger spotlight bio on their website, […]

A Heavy Heart and a Soap Box   This day was a monumental day for all the wrong reasons seeing the future funding of social care cut in the UK. Even more cuts to social care in an ageing County. Devon’s population of over 65’s is 21.3%. Doesn’t sound many but it’s 31.5% over the national […]

Scams and how to protect someone elderly With an estimated 50% of elderly people reportedly being targetted for scams, I feel we need some clearly stated facts educating us, Scam alert education. I think there should be some simple warnings describing what could potentially be a scam, especially a phone scam. With many people living […]

Simple Tips For Rethinking Arthritis Pain This is a guest post from Joe Flemming, from Vive Health. Arthritis pain in shoulders, knees, ankles, and other joints is not easy to deal with, especially as we get older and encounter other health problems. Even mild over-the-counter pain relievers, like aspirin or ibuprofen, carry unwanted side effects. […]

Cuts, cuts, and more cuts. Local authorities plan to find £824m of savings, meaning they will be spending £6bn less on social care than in 2010 when austerity began. Cuts to social care will continue this year despite ministers putting in an extra £1bn to halt the deterioration in services, senior council officials have said. […]

Empathy Apathy The recent revelations that Bupa, making £700 million a year profit from care homes are the perpetrators of “institutional abuse’ shocked the Nation, for all of ten seconds, or so it seems Has the constant bombardment of negativity in the media caused us to become de-sensitized? Do we move on so fast as […]

  Care Co-operative helps self-funders This is a very interesting initiative for people self-funding care. This article was in the Telegraph and I am sharing it here in its entirety. Helping choose a care home for a beloved parent could be one of the most anxious times of your life. That was certainly the experience […]

Carer’s week June 12-18th One week to draw attention to the amazing job carers do day in day out. Is that really enough? Should we need to have such a week? Should carers not be automatically applauded and appreciated for the selfless job they do? Questions, questions. We know the answers, so then why do […]

  Think Drink As the temperatures start to rise it becomes more and more important to check that our elderly are drinking sufficient water to avoid becoming dehydrated. Many elderly people today still don’t drink sufficient fluids and certainly not water. However, there are a few tips to help maintain their fluid levels. Add sugar-free […]

Age Related Sarcopenia One in 20 older people and one in three who live in residential or nursing home may have age-related Sarcopenia. This is the term for loss of muscle mass and strength and one I hadn’t come across before. The National Sarcopenia initiative aims to increase awareness and screening. The British Diabetic Association […]

Evicted In old age, your home is your castle, safe as houses as the saying goes. Or so it should be. However, there are more and more instances where people are being “Evicted” from care homes! I am not wanting to be negative, but it is important for readers to know what can and does […]

In praise of our NHS As a health and social care blogger, I decided to put the NHS emergency services to the test. Only joking, that would be really irresponsible of me, not to mention selfish taking up time and resources that are already as we know stretched to the limits. I did, however, find […]

The Election Here goes! I never used to think of myself as politically minded. One day I was with a care home owner I was interviewing for a Devon Life article, and he said “Take off your political hat”. It was then, I realised I had one.   Sadly since then, I have gone from […]