We pay tribute to those who selflessly dedicate their lives to caring for others
RUSHTON. CARERS Northamptonshire Carer Awards held at Rushton Hall. Pictured are Young Carers of the Year Lewis & Lloyd Hilton with their father Peter.
THE last home match at the Franklins Gardens saw about 1,350 carers turn up to cheer the Saints on.
That didn’t make the news, because it happens every single match. In Northamptonshire, one in 10 people care full-time for a family member and the number is rising every year.
Together, Northamptonshire carers do a staggering £1.4 billion worth of work a year that the health authorities or council would have to pay for, which is 50 per cent more than the county NHS’s annual budget.
But the reason most of us don’t know about it is because, on the face of it, they are just looking after a member of their family.
Carers, even if they know that’s what they have become, get used to it.
That is the idea behind the annual Jane Roebuck Carers Awards, hosted this year at the spectacular Rushton Hall.
Linda Harris, an NHS carers support worker, said: “Nobody sits you down and says, “you’ve got the job of carer for your wife”; they are ill and you take care of them.
“But the amount of help you give then starts to increase day by day until suddenly you look back and realise you’re a carer.”
The number and range of tasks carers carry out almost every day far exceeds most sensible job descriptions (make no mistake, full-time caring is more demanding than almost any job you can think of).
From basic chores to bathing and toileting, from pushing a wheelchair everywhere to sorting the mountains of paperwork, all on no sleep and on money that makes the minimum wage look excessive.
(Carers allowance is about £50 a week, which gets removed if you earn over £11,000 or become a pensioner. Based on 24/7 care, which is how long they are on duty, that is 29p an hour).
Mark Major, of the Northamptonshire Carers charity, said: “When you think of what carers do on a daily basis, the massive value of their work each year, they deserve credit. It’s really fantastic to recognise that fact, even if just once a year.”
Young carer of the year award
AT the age of 14 and 13 respectively, Lewis and Lloyd Holton have already started shaving.
Not themselves – they are still a little young for that – but their dad.
Peter Holton was diagnosed with debilitating motor neurone disease several years ago and the boys, too young to shave, too young to get a job, are responsible on a daily basis for his most basic needs.
Because their mum does not live with them any more, they think they have probably been carers since Lloyd was about five.
Looking after a sick or disabled family member creeps up on you.
“We don’t really notice how much we do, to be honest, ” says Lewis, who along with his brother goes to Northampton School for Boys, “we’ve done it for so long now.
“We just do everything we can and we work as a team, which makes it better.”
The list of daily tasks would perhaps overwhelm many people twice their age.
They must get their dad up out of bed up, wash him, make him something to eat, all before school time, where they still don’t fully escape.
Lloyd said: “We go to school but I still think about what he is doing and whether he’s OK. All the time, really.”
Which makes it all the more remarkable that the pair are thriving at school as well as being the carers.
Trevor Froggat a young carers worker, said: “They have had to witness the rapid deterioration in the health of their father along with the breakdown of their parents’ marriage.
“Throughout this time their school attendance and behaviour has been impeccable.”
All of which makes jibes by school bullies about being “Stephen Hawking’s son” all the more shocking.
But Lewis, showing impressive maturity, seems to shrug it off.
“I know they’re wrong; they basically say it because they don’t understand. Hopefully they’ll see what we do now that we’ve won the award.”
Mr Holton said: “I have two fantastic sons and what they do for me is unbelievable. Without them I would need a 24-hour carer.
“I’m extremely proud to be their dad.”
carer of the year award
Michelle Stanton, aged 39, has been a carer since she was taken out of school at age 13 to look after her mother, who had a spinal condition.
The mum-of-three, from Kettering Road North, Spinney Hill, is now the registered carer for two children with long-term conditions and helps look after both parents.
Her Carer of the Year award, she says, is the first time in her life she has been officially recognised.
“I’m really pleased to win.
“It’s your kids so you obviously look after them naturally but it is a bit different for my two.
“It’s a lot of work but I don’t like to moan on to people so not many people understand what it’s like.
“I just consider it part of my life.”
But others recognise the trials that a mum with two sick children goes through.
Michelle has a little girl, Laura, aged 11, who has Turner’s syndrome, that causes swellings of body tissue, and has to go regularly to Birmingham Children’s Hospital. Michelle also has two sons, one of whom Danial, aged eight, has Ehlors Danlos syndrome that causes him to be injured extremely easily.
Family friend Anthea Butcher, who nominated her for the award, said: “Michelle has fought for Laura to have as normal a life as possible and often come up against prejudice but it never stops her trying.
“We all think Michelle is a true hero who deserves to be recognised for everything she does and for making us realise how truly lucky we are to have such a strong and wonderful friend in our life.”
gp practice supporting carers of the year
IN the last few years the NHS has been encouraging family doctors to spot the signs of someone becoming a carer as early as possible.
When they are then given the correct help and advice from experts, the theory goes, the person who is ill benefits from better care, thus indirectly making the patient better.
None, according to the wives of patients have upheld the concept with more vigour than Dr Asif Akram and his team at Greens Norton Medical Centre.
The surgery was nominated by a trio of carers, Penelope O’Neill, from Cold Higham Eleanor Woods, from Pattishall, and June Willsher, of Abthorpe, who all had the same idea when they heard about the nominations.
Mrs O’Neill said: “The high level of care, and the tremendous attempts made to preserve the dignity of my husband and mine, by all the staff, helps me to cope.
“I have had a number of issues over the years as a direct result of being a carer. The doctors, nurses and reception staff could not have been more supportive. I should not have been able to cope without the tremendous back up I receive.”
Mrs Willsher is a carer for her husband, Ian, who is diabetic with end stage kidney failure and numerous other health issues.
She said: “In my husband’s case, the doctor will often follow a consultation with a phone call the following day to make sure all is well or pay us a visit with very little notice from us, even if it means he calls on his way home, late evening.
“I have rheumatoid arthritis myself so the care and support by the doctors with their team behind them, makes the difference between me struggling through each day and coping quite well as I do.”
Dr Akram said: “I feel extremely privileged to have been invited to the awards and especially that we have won as a team.
“We see carers and the carers support workers as an extension of the practice and it is vital that we continue to give them support they need.”
Awards in Jane’s memory
JANE Roebuck gives her name to the annual awards in memory of her passion for carers’ issues in Northamptonshire.
Mrs Roebuck worked for many years to raise awareness of and support carers in her role as a commissioner at both Northamptonshire County Council and NHS Northamptonshire.
She developed carers support for people with mental health and helped persuade the Department of Health to bring an innovative pilot scheme for carers to the county.
After her death in 2010, colleagues thought hers the apt name to use to help recognise carers every year.
An NHS spokeswoman said: “Jane valued carers and what they did hugely and was instrumental in the provision of many carers services in place today.
“She is sorely missed by all who knew and worked with her. It is very fitting that these awards bears her name.”
Mark Major, head of the Northamptonshire Carers charity, said: “Jane would have been very proud of what these awards stand for.”
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