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If you or anyone you know is affected by the issues raised in the Inside Out: Elderly care special, the following agencies, charities and organisations may be available to help.听

Age UK

Age UK aims to improve later life for everyone by providing information and advice, and getting involved in campaigns, training and research.

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Advice line: 0800 1696565

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Carers UK

Carers UK is a charity set up to help people who care for family or friends. It provides information and advice about caring as well as practical and emotional support for carers.

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Carers Trust

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Carers Trust works to improve support, services and recognition for anyone living with the challenges of caring, unpaid, for a family member or friend who is ill, frail, disabled or has mental health or addiction problems.

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With its partners it aims to ensure that information, advice and practical support are available to all carers across the UK.

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Relatives & Residents Association

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The Relatives and Residents Association provides information and support to families and friends who find themselves having to deal with helping their loved ones make the move into a residential home. It also raises concerns about the care that those in need of care are already receiving.

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Contact - 020 7359 8136, weekdays 09.30-16.30, or email info@relres.org

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FirstStop

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First Stop offers free, independent information and advice on all aspects of care and housing for older people. Its service includes housing, care, finance and rights.

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Contact - 0800 377 7070 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

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Action on Elder Abuse

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Action on Elder Abuse works to protect, and prevent the abuse of, vulnerable older adults.

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Helpline - 0808 808 8141

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Dementia UK

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Dementia UK is a national charity, committed to improving quality of life for all people affected by dementia. It provides practical and emotional support to family carers of people with dementia.

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Contact - 0845 257 9406 (Tuesdays/Thursdays 11:00-20:45 and Saturdays 10:00-13:00) or email direct@dementiauk.org

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Alzheimer鈥檚 Society

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Alzheimer's Society is a leading support and research charity for people with dementia, their families and carers.

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The Society provides information and support to people with any form of dementia and their carers through its publications, National Dementia Helpline, website and more than 2,000 local services throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It campaigns for improved standards of care and greater understanding of dementia.

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Helpline 鈥� 0300 222 1122. Advisors are available Monday to Friday from 8.30am to 6.30pm.

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Community schemes

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The following schemes covered in the Inside Out elderly care special may also be of interest:

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Care 4 Care

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Homeshare International

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Share and Care

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Hartrigg Oaks Retirement Village

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Former cabinet minister David Blunkett has warned that families, neighbours and 鈥測ounger older people鈥� will have to take a more active role in caring for people in their old age.

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Mr Blunkett, who served as Work and Pensions Secretary under Tony Blair, told the 大象传媒鈥檚 Inside Out programme that a political solution to the problem of paying for elderly care was unlikely to emerge.

He said that raising taxes to pay for care was 鈥渞idiculous politically because nobody will touch it with a barge pole鈥� and that politicians are 鈥渟cared of arguing about tax and spend鈥�.


He added: 鈥淲e need an imaginative, joined-up, holistic answer that mobilises and supports families with caring, that gets the community involved, that gets 鈥榶ounger older鈥� people who are still active as part of the solution. This is about society as a whole rather than a financial cost[鈥�] It鈥檚 essential because the money won鈥檛 be available to do it in any other way."

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Inside Out examines the problem of spiralling costs in elderly care. 听With many of us living longer is the challenge of providing care reaching crisis point?

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The 大象传媒鈥檚 Home Editor Mark Easton examines some of the radical solutions that are being tested around the UK to help tackle the elderly care crisis.

These include the Isle of Wight鈥檚 innovative 鈥楥are4Care鈥� scheme 鈥� where neighbours bank care credits for the time they spend helping elderly neighbours which they can then spend on their own care later in life.听
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Mark also visits a happy 鈥榟omeshare鈥� in Essex and a unique retirement village in Yorkshire.

The Beatles听famously asked in one of their songs; "Will you still need me, will you still feed me, When I'm 64?"

Life expectancy has gone up since they penned the song, but the question hasn't gone away. Just who can we rely on to give us that extra bit of care when we need it?

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Read on elderly care in听North East England.听