Category Archives: Social care
45,000 elderly and disabled people in North-East and N Yorkshire have ‘lost’ council-funded care
MORE than 45,000 elderly and disabled people across the region have “lost” council-funded care in just three years, campaigners are warning.
9:40pm Wednesday 12th February 2014 in News By Robert Merrick, Parliamentary Correspondent
Fall in access to social care The huge decline – of almost one fifth across the North-East and Yorkshire – is the result of “chronic underfunding” of town halls, the Care and Support Alliance said.
Cash-starved authorities are being forced to “ration” care – even to people who need help to “to get up, get washed, and get dressed and get out of the house”
Now the Alliance is warning the Government’s flagship plans to reform the battered care system will fail unless councils are given “long term, sustainable funding”.
Richard Hawkes, its chairman, said: “Like most other parts of the country, the North-East and Yorkshire are experiencing a squeeze on social care.
“Chronic underfunding has left large numbers of older and disabled people, who need support to do the basics, like getting up or out of the house, cut out of the care system.”
Councils in England ‘pay too little for home care’
4 February 2014 Last updated at 08:01
The BBC received Freedom of Information data from more than 100 councils
Most councils in England are paying less than the industry recommended minimum for personal home care, a BBC investigation suggests.
The UK Homecare Association (UKHCA), which represents providers, want them to be paid a minimum of £15.19 an hour, to cover wages, training and travel.
But data obtained under the Freedom of Information Act found the minimum paid met that in just four out of 101 cases.
One provider said quality care was not possible at the levels being paid.
Cutting corners Trevor Brocklebank, chief executive of Home Instead Senior Care in Warrington, refuses to bid for council contracts.
Shock Norfolk social care shake-up after serious concerns raised
Serious concerns over the social care provided to adults with mental health issues has led to Norfolk County Council taking action
Dan Grimmer Monday, January 27, 2014
1:38 PM
Serious concerns that social care for adults with mental health issues in Norfolk is not good enough has led to the county council taking responsibility for the service away from the mental health trust.
Norfolk County Council’s cabinet agreed to the move at a meeting today, which will see just over a hundred staff who had been transferred to the Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust five years ago go back to being managed from County Hall.
Issues around the service were aired at a meeting of the council’s community services overview and scrutiny panel in November.
Councillors at that meeting heard how, at one point, council bosses could not be confident the authority was fully meeting its legal obligations around care.
Bosses admitted then that the social care service for adults with mental health issues in Norfolk was not good enough, as they pledged to make improvements.
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