Category Archives: Social care

Will the Care Act blur the distinction between health and social care?

Call for greater clarity ahead of new legislation

Thursday 14 August 2014 08.30 BST
David Brindle, guardian Professional
Chief executive of the NHS, Simon Stevens, who has suggested he would like to see care homes close. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

There’s still a good deal of muttering about a comment a few weeks ago by new NHS chief executive Simon Stevens that he was looking forward to the demise of care homes. “It would be a disappointment,” he told charity Age UK’s annual Later Life conference, “if in 30, 40, 50 years’ time, nursing homes still existed.”

Lack of funding could threaten Care Act reforms, councils warn

Local Government Association poll highlights council concerns over cost burdens of landmark reforms

Are 15-minute homecare visits always bad?

Shorter visits can have a place within a wider care package

Why 15-minute homecare visits should be bannedShr

  • Guardian Professional,
‘Service users often wish to know what time people are going to turn up and for how long they will stay.’

Local authority commissioners often face criticism for the regimented way they purchase care and particularly for the hourly rates they offer. Interested observers will talk about the need to purchase care around outcomes, rather than the seemingly outdated method of paying by the hour, half hour or 15 minutes. In reality this is a bit of a holy grail as very few local authorities have mastered the art of outcome-based commissioning. This is made more difficult by the fact that service users often wish to know what time people are going to turn up and for how long they will stay. There is also the small matter of deciding how to pay for such arrangements.