Monthly Archives: July 2011

Elderly care bill ‘should be capped at £35,000’

Elderly care bill ‘should be capped at £35,000’

Andrew Dilnot explains how a cap on care costs would work

An official inquiry will recommend that the bill elderly people in England have to pay for care should be capped at £35,000, the BBC understands.

The proposal could stop thousands of people having to sell their house or lose all their savings, says the BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson.

The details will come in the report of the Commission on Funding of Care and Support in England on Monday.

Britain has one paid carer for every 100 pensioners…

Britain has one carer for every 100 pensioners… among the worst in the world

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 11:13 PM on 1st July 2011

Britain has just one carer per 100 pensioners – a smaller proportion than anywhere else in the developed world, figures show.

According to an international survey, Ireland has three times as many carers per 100 pensioners. The U.S. has five times as many and Sweden has 12 times as many.

The figures, from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, which represents industrialised nations, help explain the poor quality of care in many of our residential homes, as well as the appalling standards of home-help services, which last month were described as an affront to the human rights of the elderly.

Rare: The number of carers working in Britain has halved since the 1990s

Rare: The number of carers working in Britain has halved since the 1990s

‘Stunning inequities’ in end-of-life care, report says

1 July 2011 Last updated at 01:16

 
By Adam Brimelow Health Correspondent, BBC News
 Too many people end their days in hospital against their wishes, the report suggests

An independent review is calling for a set of universal standards for care of the dying after uncovering “stunning inequities” in provision in England.

The inquiry, requested last year by the government, says the current system is confusing and inconsistent.