Is Britain’s social care system broken?

TWO million Britons are forced to care for a family member with dementia (Mail). Don’t forget the families with disabled children. I’m the sole carer of my disabled son — he is 66 and I am 93. At least I sleep well because by the end of the day I’m exhausted. I’m partially sighted, hard of hearing and have arthritis, but, with the aid of a three-wheel walker, I can just make it to Tesco to buy essentials. I know many other unpaid carers aged over 85 in a similar situation.

BARBARA MacARTHUR, Cardiff. MY MOTHER, who is 98, has been in nursing care for two-and-a-half years following a broken hip. She is frail and suffering from dementia. She didn’t have a home to sell — she lived with me for 30 years, and I was her carer for five years, saving the Government a king’s ransom. Since moving into care, she’s spent £158,000 of her £167,000 savings. The council has allowed her to keep £9,000, not the figure of £23,500 often bandied about. It’s only when a member of your family is affected that the unfairness strikes home. I hope the Government reviews social care and changes it.

LOUISE BROUGHTON, Bowness-on-Windermere, Cumbria.

MY WIFE has advanced Alzheimer’s disease and, as her only carer, I can endorse the Alzheimer’s Society report about the lack of support. After 5pm and all weekend, there is no support for carers from any agency or charity, except the ambulance service. With dementia, you can’t predict how the person who has it is going to behave, so things often go wrong unpredictably. Carers just soldier on as best as we can until we are destroyed by the sheer, impossible strain.

JOHN SMITH, Warrington, Cheshire.