#CostOfLivingCrisis

[Aribah-NRAS]

NRAS along with 62 other organisations is supporting the call to the Chancellor to highlight the impact of #CostOfLivingCrisis on those living with ill health and disability to reaffirm the need for a fully funded health and care system. ✉️ 👉 bit.ly/3ttIMiL

[Mmrr]

Thankyou

[Flinda]

So glad that such an organisation exists to represent us. Extremely grateful. I had no idea until today.

However, playing devil's advocate for just a minute, there's nothing in this letter that the Chancellor isn't already aware of and, although it lists a number of changes which would improve our lot, it doesn't provide Mr. Hunt with any specific numbers or any potential method of targeting such people, so it's unlikely to be effective at this late stage in the process.

The Department for Work and Pensions will hold data for those people already claiming benefits, such as Personal Independence Payments, but there are many other people who will not be captured anywhere on the DWP Database. It's these unrecorded people who might fall through a gap and are at most at risk.

The NHS database will record everyone with a musculoskeletal issue but isn't used to identify individuals personal living circumstances (and nor should it). So, identifying, targeting and quantifying our needs is virtually impossible for the Treasury to implement anything. Isn't this why Local Authorities have been allocated additional discretionary funding? But is this method effective in all Local Authority areas?

Maybe one day we will be organised enough and motivated enough to create a central coordinated database, to record who we are to target our specific needs, without having to register somewhere within DWP's scary systems.

Meanwhile, I'll try to stay warm by visiting my local library as often as possible and keep my home on a very low heat setting. I realise this isn't an option for many.

Here's hoping Mr Hunt will already have thought about us and have something up his sleeve (and hope it's not the dreaded power cuts!).

We will get through this winter, somehow! Things could always be worse!