15/10/2012 Inside Out South West

Hello, and welcome back to a brand new series of Inside Out South West.

Stories and investigations from where you live. Tonight, the

postcode lottery putting pressure on South West charities to provide

the care councils cannot afford. have got seven people on my waiting

list at the moment who need a befriender. There is always going

to be a need for more volunteers. Who pays to look after the elderly?

The self-help schemes that might provide an answer. She asked me,

how would you feel about a man? A man, why not? Also tonight, a

Cornish artist turns tin miner. is heavier than a paintbrush, I

tell you that. I am Sam Smith, and First tonight, there has been a big

push in recent years to help older people in places like Devon and

Cornwall stay in their own homes for as long as possible. But the

funding to help pay for that is increasingly under threat, and it

depends on where you live. It is a postcode lottery, that even the

government says is unfair. Ready meals, now that's down there.

Two for �4.50. Raspberries and apples. Vera Jones from Saltash in

Cornwall has severe arthritis. She can't get to or around the

supermarket on her own, so charity worker Gail Lee is just the tonic.

Can we just go buy the beer? Okay, swing round. The beer is up here

over their left. It's wonderful to know that I can come to a big store

and have help, otherwise I don't know what I'd do. I certainly could

not walk down shopping on my own. That sounds good, doesn't it? Give

me an Old Tom! Vera doesn't know how to shop online. And anyway,

getting out lifts her spirits. I don't have a computer, I'm not

computer literate. It's a day out. The council does not pick up the

tab for this service, instead, Gail's charity does, relying on

volunteers who are in short supply. Hurray, it's not raining! I've got

some people on my waiting list who need a befriender, and I might have

three volunteers, that they might not match, so there's always

getting to be a need for more volunteers. More people in the

South West with needs like Vera are having to rely on charity. That's

because increasingly councils say they can't afford to pay for home

care and services like this. Experts say it's in part because of

the way central government funds local authorities. Some get much

more grants from central government, it's a very complex formula that is

used to work that out. It doesn't serve well particular types of need,

for example, rural areas. And councils raise different amounts of

money from the level of their council tax, and the number of

people they have paying it. It does vary from place to place, so there

is no nationally consistent funding for home care services. So in 2006

if you were elderly with low needs you could qualify for free care

you could qualify for free care services in Cornwall. In Dorset,

Somerset and Plymouth your needs had to be moderate. Only in Devon

and Torbay did they have to be substantial. But now, everywhere,

except the Isles of Scilly: its substantial. Making the South West

substantial. Making the South West one of the hardest places in

England to access free care unless you are amongst the most needy. We

are really talking about people with very intensive needs, who need

a lot of help, with what we call personal care, that things like

help to go to the toilet, help with meeting, help with getting dressed,

getting in and out of bed and so on. I'm just going to take a double

sidestep to your left side. At this day centre they're trying to keep

one step ahead of the problem. The basic facilities here are free to

all comers thanks to local authority funding. But we're not in

the South West. This is Islington - a London borough which still

provides this kind of help to those in the lower need bandings. Despite

budget cuts, the council says it's a cost effective approach. Clearly

finance is a big issue for us, but our view is if we don't help people

with moderate needs, they are very rapidly going to become a lot more

ill and need more intervention, so by helping people at this stage,

not only are we doing what we think is morally right, but actually

doing what makes financial sense. There's just one thing here today

that isn't free. Lunch - still a snip though at �2.50. I come every

day, Monday, cheese day, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. -- Tuesday. It

makes the difference to me, I don't want to be at home, and it's

company. London's not the only place left that offers free care

for lower needs. If there was room, we could all move to the Isles of

Scilly in old age. Its council is the only one in the South West

still paying for that level of service. Post Office first, Harriet.

Harriet Pender's carer, Julie Elvin is funded by Scilly's Council. Like

Islington, the authority says the policy makes economic sense.

believe that investing in low-level needs, putting in small measures

that help maintain independence, actually saves money in the system,

because you are not putting them in hospital or residential care and

keep them independent in their own home. It saves money, and produces

better outcomes for older people. But the remoteness of Scilly is

also a factor. As you can imagine, we are a remote community, so

sending somebody off to hospital from here costs a lot of money in

terms of and hospital stays, so everything we can do to keep

somebody independent and active on the island is the best thing we can

do, both financially and for the people concerned. Back on the

mainland, Cornwall council spends less per person on looking after

the over 65s than any authority in England bar two. Cornwall Council

says that's because costs, like wages for care workers are lower

here than elsewhere. Although it doesn't fund personal care for

people like Vera, the council says it does pay for home adaptations,

like stairlifts. The Minister responsible for elder care told us

the government is planning to sort out the postcode lottery in

provision. I don't think it is acceptable that the level of care

you need that entitles you to support from your local authority

depends on where you live. This is why the garment has recognised that,

and has introduced a common standard across the country. --

government. Any new legislation won't be on the statute book until

at least 2015.Until then experts see little cause for optimism about

future funding of care for the elderly. I think the immediate

prospects are not good, frankly. The squeeze on local governance

spending will continue, there are no signs of those pressures abating.

I think there are opportunities to do creative things locally that

make it easier for people in the third sector, making greater use of

volunteers, but these are sticking plasters, and what we need is

fundamental root and branch reform of the whole system. Back in

Saltash, Gail Lee is visiting amputee Peter Tilston, who's hoping

her befriending charity can help him. Gail hopes Cornwall council

will one day help her - with funding to expand what she believes

is a much-needed service. We at the moment don't get any funding from

social services, but it would be something that we would treasure

because it would allow us to offer people more things. The way to a

fairer system, even with government pledges, is unlikely to be a smooth

one. It seems more and more of us may have to pay for help in our old

age, or like Vera, depend on the So the cutting of council services

like home care raises some tough questions. Can we find new and

imaginative ways of looking after older people? Can we do this

without state assistance? The BBC's home editor Mark Easton went on a

I wonder what it's like to be eighty. If I live that long, who's

going to be there to care for me when I can't manage? And who is

going to pay the bill? They're questions we all ask, because none

of us can know how much it's all going to cost and you can spend

almost everything before the state steps in. But I'm here in York

because in this city some of the elderly have clubbed together to

share the risk. It's a simple idea. Before you get too decrepit you can

apply to live out your days at Hartrigg Oaks - a community run by

the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, where residents know that if or

when they need nursing care, it's available on site at no extra

charge. It's not easy to get in, though. You have to pass a medical.

And one of the leasehold bungalows needs to be vacant. It pays to

. You made the decision to come here, at 61. It was easy for us, we

came here, because of my parent, they died. Suddenly we were the

oldest people in our family. We came here, and suddenly, we were

the youngest. So there were people 40 years older than me. Hartrigg

Oaks offers peace of mind to those who can afford it. Residents pay

into a communal pot bg something like �170 month for a 60-year-old,

more if you join later. In return they can be confident whatever

happens to them they won't get clobbered with care fees they can't

afford. You You are paying the same sum year or yeen. With small

increases which covers your care, however much you need. So when you

are fit you pay over the odds. When you need major kai you don't pay

more. All those worries people have about what happens. You have

answered them. We know where our care will take place,, probably

where we will die. To me, that is great. We can get on with living.

Of course as the residents get older, they are more likely to use

the care facilities. Theodore has lived here since it opened 14 years

ago. This year his wife spent over six weeks in the care home, and

while she was being looked after he dipped into the communal pot for

the first time. I was offered and found to my surprise it was very

welcome care, in my bungalow, our bungalow. So you have been paying

in all this time. Thafpblts is right. Paying over the odds while

you were well, but now you are getting a bit back. So it seeps

wasting one's money, but it wasn't. Seems to me Hartrigg Oaks is a

local solution to what many would argue should be a national state

responsibility, paying for the care of our elderly. But the plain fact

is the time of cuts to public service, the politician right now

cannot agree on where they will find the money. So the issue keeps

getting kicks into the long grass. The truth is, that despite the

recession, Britain is still many times richer, in real terms than it

was when today's pensioners were born. Question afford to look after

them but in Westminster politicians will tell you that priorities lie

elsewhere. It is it too ridiculous to imagine that the answer is to

put taxes up, so we can pay to look after the elderly ?. It isn'try

Dick throus suggest we should use the tax system progressively, to

look after and care for people in old age. It is ridiculous

politically because nobody will touch wit a barge pole. Why not?

People are scared about arguing over tax and spend. They are scared

of the consequences, at the moment, of the economic impact of course,

in terms of further depression of our economy. So with taxpayers

unable or unwilling to pay for the increasing care demand of the

elderly, the search is on for ways to provide help without the need

for large amounts of public money. I have come to Essex to see one of

the country's 100 or so home shares in action. An idea popular on the

continent. My husband died in 2000 26789 I have had rheumatoid for 20

year, and gradually I found I was getting worse. My daughter did some

research, and I came up with Share and Care. She rang up one day and

said, how would you feel about a man? And I thought, a man? A man?

Why not? That is not the guy with the big rings? Iona was matched

with45-year-old Graham, an NHS worker. It will come to me. Lib rar

chi. They have lived alongside each other in Iona's home. The idea is

he lives rent free for spending round ten hours a week helping out.

You see the advert and it says this is not going to be a flat share

with a NHS worker, this is going to be living with an older person.

Live in carer, taking care of the chicken, doing shopping. Mowing the

lawn, a few repairs and bits and Bobs, a bit of company. It has

allowed you to stay in your own home. Exactly. I wanted to stay

here, I love my house, I intend to carried out in my coffin. You don't

have a kind of, you know stpriet board and lodging in return for

chores kind of relationship, you become friends. We are friend, he

has been absolutely amazing. He has given me my life, my quality of

life, it has risen like that. We laugh, he makes me roar with

laughter. Sometimes I make you roar with laughter. When you tell dirty

jokes! You know it is so nice when you see something that works as

well as that does, it is not for everybody, clearly the older person

needs have a spare room, and their needs, I think, they can't be too

sevee, and thirdly, perhaps most importantly, the characters have to

be right, to get that kind of special relationship. So, it is an

answer, but it is not the answer. We need an imaginative joined up

answer that mobilises and supports families with caring, that gets the

community involved, that gets younger, older people as part of

the solution. And over on the Isle of Wight, there is a unique social

experiment that aims to do just that. It is called Care 4 Care and

the idea is simple. For every hour of voluntary care that people put

in for their elderly neighbours, they build up an hour's worth of

care cred it that they can use for Nair own care later in life. Hello

Pearl. One of the youngest of the 150 members who have signed up for

the pilot scheme is 36-year-old Lewis, who has been helping out 87-

year-old Pearl. I have been coming to see Pearl about six months now.

I have not notched up 20 hours, and I would like to think they are

banked to go to helping my mother, or helping myself if and when I

need it. It can encourage you so much to actually get out there and

do something. The thing is my fingers, the top joint doesn't go

over, so therefore I can't pick up things properly. I spend a lot of

time talking to him. He talks to me, but that is is a big help to me,

because people don't come. Care 4 Care is the brainchild of wooful

who hopes it will play a part in solving the care crisis. I hope we

will build it into a large national scheme, I hope there might be a

million members, the problem is, whether the next generation is

sufficiently keen to ensure safety in their own age, to invest the

hours, which will buy them their care pension. Here in Westminster

of course the talk is all about cuts, austerity, not spending

billions more caring for our elderly. So the responsibility

falls on wider society, on community, neighbourhoods, on

families, to fill that gap and help all of us feel more confident about

the prospect of growing old. And you can find out more by going to

Kufrt Jackson is one of gaul's most successful landscape artist, his

work takes him across Britain and abroad and his pictures can be seen

round the world. But for his latest project, he is bringing it all back

home. Early morning, near St Just in the far west of Cornwall. I am

off with three enthusiasts on a quest. With the latest, in a long

line of prospect to, who have been doing the same thing for centuries.

We are looking for tin. The authorities have given special

permission for this venture. The lode we are working continues out

from cliffs that have been mined since the middle ages. We found

some old equipment, dated to the mid 1500s. The most recent

productive activity is probably the end of the 19th century. This lode

may have been hidden from the old miners under the boulders, which is

why it is still here for us today. With Geoff's help I hope we can

mine enough ore to make a special object out of St Just tinly form

part of my latest project, which is all about the place which has been

my home for the last 20 years. is about St Just, the place I work,

I live. My family live, where my kids have been born and grown up.

So, I just felt I wanted to concentrate this time actually on

St Just and the area round it, that the parish. Tourists only

discovered this place fairly recently. I doubt they would have

come here in the 19th century when it was one of Britain's industrial

hotspots. Now say it post What a lightweight I am snvings! It

is heavier than a paintbrush, I tell you that. After the best part

of a hard day's work, it looks like we have cracked it. So we have a

bucket or tin or nearly a bucket of tin. So I am presuming we have been

successful. Yes, I think it has gone pretty well. Any guesses what

we have in there. I hope we will get a few keel lois -- kilos of ten

mittle which is good for the amount of volume we have disturbed.

plan is for Geoff to smelt and cast some of that bucket of ore into a

sculpture. In deciding what form it should take, I have been inspired

by an extraordinary find in a hedge, behind the St Just vicarage, at a

time when mining was still going full tilt. This is the location

where in 1832, a local man, a hedger, was working, repairing one

of the stretches of these field boundaries, and within the rubble

and the stone work of the wall, he came across this small metallic

object. Very Kerrs you, very unusual, -- curious. I don't think

anybody had been found like it in theary area or even in Cornwall.

That find ended up in Truro's Royal Cornwall Museum. So there it is.

Number 14. What I call the St Just bull and they call bronze figure of

a sacred bull. The setting of Gods and goddesss, the St Just object,

and well, you know, how, why, what for? That is what I want to know.

This lovely bull is made of copper alloy, and as you can see, it is

very small, and it has got some little holes in its feet, which was

used to stand it up, because it was used as a sort of cult icon. This

cult of the bull was taken over by the Greeks, who took over Egypt,

and then later the Roman, under different names. OK. So really,

probably it started at the beginning of the Egyptian dynasties,

probably about 5,000 years ago. come on, where is the connectionst?

How did it get here? We don't really know, was it made in Egypt,

Greece, Rome, or was it in made here? We don't know that either.

want to use the tin we have mined to make my own version of this

ancient object. These sketches will help me produce a maquette or a

model which I can take along to Geoff's workshop. I have brought

this along. I gave it to Geoff the other day. He has kindly produced

this mold for me. Hopefully all these little marks of detail will

come out on my final tin sculpture. If and when it works. But there are

several more hours of hard graft before we get to that stage. Using

a method that is hardly changed for centuries, we separate some smaller

pieces of tin ore, that will be easier to work with. That is then

refined by a process known as panning. It requires a surprisingly

delicate touch and is is a lot more difficult than it looks.. Say it

funny motion really. -- say it bit The dried fine particles then go

into Geoff's furnace, which will produce a temperature of more than

1,000 degrees. Do you know when it is ready by looking? It will bubble.

When it dies down, it is done, yeah. Half an hour later, Geoff removes

the crucible, and if it has worked, You saw the bits that ran away fast

down this end, that is the tin. The slag up this end. We will let that

cool down. Amazing. Brilliant. But it still has to be remelted for the

final stage. The molten tin is poured in the mould and spun for

ten minutes. At this point I have no idea if it is is going to work.

All we can do is wait and see. moment of truth. T It is fantastic.

It is a moment of alchemy, we have gone from stone to a shiny object.

It is extraordinary. Geoff assured me that we would get some tin, and

we we would be able to cast it from my mould. I wasn't confident, to

tell you the truth, but I am delighted now. It has got my

version of the St Just bull captured in St Just tin, first tin

from St Just parish for a long time. To me this little bull represents a

link between contemporary Cornwall and the ancient world. We don't

know how the original one got here but I wouldn't mind betting whoever

dropped it may be a Roman soerges who was here because like me they