Category Archives: Older care
Four out of 10 elderly needing care shut out of system as rules toughened up unofficially
Almost 40 per cent of elderly people who would have qualified for care in recent years now excluded after social workers ordered to apply tougher eligibility tests unofficially, report concludes
More than 450,000 frail elderly and disabled people who would until recently have received state-funded care have been shut of the system because of pressure to cut numbers, a stark new report concludes.
The academic study, published as MPs prepare to debate the Government’s long-awaited overhaul of care, found that almost 40 per cent of those who would have had some help with basic tasks such as washing and dressing less than a decade ago are now left to fend for themselves.
It comes as an alliance of 75 charities warned that the Government’s good intentions in overhauling the system risk being completely undermined by a “black hole” in funding for social care.
The report, by researchers at the London School of Economics, describes cuts in the last two years alone as “without precedent in the history of adult social care”.
It warns that the care system is now caught in a “vicious circle” with fewer and fewer people receiving help at home but more and more likely to have to turn to the NHS – something which could ultimately cost the taxpayer more.
‘My guilt over putting Dad at mercy of abusive carers’
The son of one of the victims of the carers who have been convicted of abusing their patients has today spoken of his agony and guilt.
Chris Haywood, a married father-of-two from Lancaster, chose Hillcroft Nursing Home at Slyne in October 2010, for his father Ken after being impressed by staff and its specialist Coniston Unit.
But it was there that his dad and seven other dementia sufferers were physically abused by carers who, a trial at Preston Crown Court heard, “mocked, bullied and assaulted” them for laughs when they were “bored”.
Warning that carers are at breaking point
Warning that carers are at breaking point
The Older People’s Commissioner for Wales has said that some carers are at breaking point because of the stress of having to look after their loved ones with very little assistance from outside organisations. Sarah Rochira told the BBC that this vital work is often overlooked, even though it can have a major impact on people’s physical and mental health.
She said that carers provide as much as £6 billion a year in savings to healthcare authorities, but many feel as though they do not matter.
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