EUROCARERS AGM & EDINBURGH CONFERENCE in May
LEEDS in July "Call for Papers" deadline 19th Feb. 2010 . Conference on Long Term Care, London, September 2010, "Call for Papers" see below
URGENT: Registration required to gain access to Parliament Buildings.
Form available on request: fpgoodwin@eircom.net
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EUROCARERS AGM
Monday the 17th May 2010, 3pm to 5pm
Location: Roxburghe Hotel, 38 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh
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EDINBURGH 17th - 19th May 2010
DOES EUROPE CARE?
The Future of Carer Support in Europe
See attached Provisional Conference Programme
http://www.eurocarers.org/DoeEuropCarePROG.pdf
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LEEDS July 2010
5th INTERNATIONAL CARERS CONFERENCE
NEW FRONTIERS IN CARING
2010 AND BEYOND
See attached Conference Programme
http://www.eurocarers.org/CarersUKLeedsInternatConference2010.doc
CALL FOR PAPERS
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5th International Carers Conference
New frontiers in caring: 2010 and beyond
Thursday 8th - Sunday 11th July 2010 | Leeds Armouries, Leeds, UK
How we manage care and caring in a changing and ageing world is a global challenge, touching everyone's lives. The International Carers Conference taking place in Leeds in July 2010 will attract an international audience of over 500 researchers, practitioners and senior professionals interested in the caring debate. Speakers include: Denis Gilhooly, Principal Adviser, United Nations Office for Partnership and Executive Director, Digital He@lth Initiative; Paul Timmers, Head of Unit for ICT for Inclusion in the European Commission, Directorate-General Information Society & Media; Franscec Aragall, President and CEO, Design for All Foundation, Spain; David Behan, Director General of Social Care, Local Government and Care Partnerships, Department of Health and Carers UK Chief Executive, Imelda Redmond.
It will focus on four key themes:
The conference programme will feature a broad mix of policy and practice. We are inviting you to submit abstracts for workshop presentations and poster contributions.
Closing date for submissions is 31st December 2009. There are preferential delegate rates for all successful submissions.
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Report on the Eurocarers Autumn Seminar 2009
A Future for Care: A Future for Carers in Europe
Summary Report
NOTE: Powerpoint Presentations for this Seminar are available in the "Presentations" page of this site.
The Eurocarers Autumn Seminar was held on Monday 16th November 2009 in the Brussels
Marriot Hotel, Brussels city centre. Robert Anderson, President of Eurocarers and Head of t
he Living Conditions and Quality of Life Unit, Eurofound opened the seminar. He began by introducing attendees to the members of the Eurocarers Executive and its activities since election in May 2009. The aims and objectives of Eurocarers were then outlined. In particular, the issue of combining caring and employment was seen as vital. Carers' relevance to the EU policy debate and a number of public policy measures to support family care were briefly outlined. It was however pointed out that a number of measures to improve the image and attractiveness of care work were necessary. Robert then referred to some issues relevant to carers that require future development in the EU. Finally, the current priorities for Eurocarers were summarised - the contribution of unpaid carers; income and the impact of caring; reconciling employment with care responsibilities and access to and availability of effective support.
The first speaker of the day was Sebastian Fischer, a representative of the Coalition of Carers in Scotland and Director of VOCAL (Voice of Carers Across Lothian). He is also a member of the Eurocarers Executive. The title of his presentation was: The Voice of Carers - Developing Carer Organisations across Europe. He began by setting out the context - the health and social care environment. Essentially, there is a shift of caring responsibility from the state, health services and local authorities occurring to families and volunteers. The benefits of independent carer organisations were then outlined. Examples of their benefit in the British context were demonstrated. Their current status in Europe was revealed, with only 8 EU member states currently having independent carer organisations. However, new developments such as in Germany (Wir Pflegen) were also referred to. It was argued that independent carer organisations are needed for a number of reasons. A number of action points for Eurocarers to consider into the future were discussed. In the short term, contacts, membership and finance are important. In the medium term, carer recognition is important.
Sebastian finally outlined plans to date for the 2010 European Carers Conference - Does Europe Care? The Future of Carer Support in Europe. It is due to take place in Edinburgh, Scotland from the 17th to the 19th May 2010. The three main themes are as follows: strengthening the focus on carers in European policy; exploring caring on the margins and strengthening carer organisations in Europe. It is proposed that 120 delegates from up to 25 national and regional delegations will attend. The aim is to have delegations of 1 government, 1 professional, 1 academic and 2 carer representatives.
The next speakers were Giovanni Lamura, Senior Researcher, INRCA and Vice President (Research) of Eurocarers and Henk Nies, CEO of VILANS. The title of their presentation was Developments in Carer Research. The complexities and difficulties associated with undertaking comparative research were first outlined. Particular issues faced by researchers included the definitions of carers used, lack of data, focus on older people and limited data on carers of non-older people. Two examples were used to illustrate these complexities - the estimated number of carers and incidences of young carers. The speakers then discussed the impact of caregiving on carers. A number of factors shown to have a negative impact on carers' health were outlined, as were issues relating to socio-economic resources, such as income and employment. Particular attention as given to the issue of how to reconcile employment and care. Data sources from Eurofamcare and Eurobarometer studies were used to illustrate service use and barriers to access in support services for carers. Two recent trends in carers' research were then discussed. Firstly, work on cash for care schemes as an alternative to direct service provision undertaken as part of the 2009 Report on "Care provision's within families and its socio-economic impact on care providers" by University of York and Vilans was outlined. Secondly, the role played by migrant care work as illustrated by recent work by the INCRA in Italy was presented.
The final presentation of the day was from Christine Marking, Policy Advisor to Eurocarers. The title of her presentation was Influencing EU Policy Development: Points of Entry for Carers. The focus of this presentation was on why EU policy level should take account of carers and their issues, despite limited EU remit in this area to date. An overview of current and future policy development which has a bearing on carers was provided and which could serve as a useful platform in advocacy. Some examples discussed included the EU Workforce for Health, Open Method for Coordination, Mental Health Pact, 2010 Communication on Long Term Care and Employment Initiatives. In order to help put carers issues on the EU policy agenda, it was argued that the carers' sector must be proactively involved in the following areas across Europe - active policy monitoring, analysis and response; creativity and seeking points of entry; development of clear and focused policy messages and positions; development of stakeholder links and co-operation and communication. In addition, the re-establishment of the European Parliament Interest Group on Carers was seen as an important initiative in this regard.
All speakers facilitated a range of questions from the audience members, with further discussion following from their presentations. The 2009 updated Eurocarers Factsheet Carers in Europe was launched by Robert Anderson. He thanked Ann Stokes for her contribution made to this new and important publication. It is envisaged that it will be available to download from the Eurocarers website shortly. The concluding address was then provided by Robert Anderson. Robert thanked all the speakers for their contribution to the day and encouraged participants to consider becoming members of Eurocarers, as it was vital that for real change to occur for carers in Europe, organisations must work together. The seminar concluded with a wine and canapé reception.
Over 40 delegates, including representatives from Carer NGO's and pan European Social and Health NGO's, researchers and family carers attended the seminar and feedback on the event was very positive. In particular, attendees welcome the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of current and future issues relevant to carers across Europe. In addition, attending the seminar was seen as a way to exchange information and an opportunity to network.