Wasted Journeys to Westminster? Julia Jones
On March 9th last year (2022) I travelled to Westminster with friends and fellow-campaigners, lobbying for the legal right to a care supporter -- caregiver, care partner... The terminology doesn't matter too much. It's the right to have someone who we love to be with us in a time of need. This might be when we're in a hospital, a care home, a mental health unit or anywhere else in our fragmented health and care system where we're likely to feel powerless and afraid. I wrote a blog before I left home , listing just a few of the unseen people who would be travelling to London with me. I mentioned Daniel, repeatedly put into ‘seclusion’ in a mental health unit when he cried out for his wife. I remembered Riya, a woman younger than me, struggling to recover from a stroke among people who didn’t speak her language or understand the ritual dimension of her food needs. Riya was lucky to be alive but her doctors found her apathetic and her family were certain that she needed...