Category Archives: Social care

Dying patients should be exempt from social care charges

January 15, 2014   Cancer, Carers, dementia, Social care, ukcuts
We need to talk about end-of-life care so fewer people face a lonely death in hospital. Free social care would be a start

theguardian.com,

 

A massage therapist works on the feet of a terminally ill hospice resident.

This week the care bill committee is debating who should be eligible for social care. MPs will also consider whether to add a clause that would enable exemption from social care charges for those at the end of their lives.

The amendment would also establish the need for better forward planning about where we would like to die. Most of us would prefer to be at home surrounded by the people we love, yet fewer than one in three are currently able to do so.

Why is it that 89% of those who die in hospital do so following an unplanned admission? In many cases it is because of the sheer exhaustion that comes with providing around-the-clock care. At the end of life there may be a period of days, but sometimes far longer, of complete dependency. Families go to enormous lengths to cope but, especially where there is only one person in a position to provide care, the elastic can only stretch so far.

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Millions of elderly 'to lose vital care in funding shake-up'

December 4, 2013   Carers, fuel poverty, Older care, Social care, ukcuts

Older patients too frail to get out of bed may not receive home help

  • Millions of elderly people could be denied home help, Age UK warns
  • More pensioners may have to rely on ‘flying’ 15-minute home visits
  • Ministers are currently drawing up plans for new national care system

By Sophie Borland

PUBLISHED: 01:05, 4 December 2013 | UPDATED: 08:12, 4 December 2013

Millions of elderly people could be denied vital care under a Government shake-up of the funding system, a leading charity has warned.

There are fears older patients too frail to get out of bed by themselves will be denied home help on the state because they are not deemed dependent enough.

Age UK also warns that further cuts to the social care budget will lead to many more elderly having to rely on ‘flying’ 15-minute home visits.

 

Warning: Elderly people could be denied vital care under a Government shake-up, Age UK has warned

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Councils may have to outsource ‘low-level’ assessments to free up social workers, say sector leaders

November 22, 2013   Carers, disability, DOH, Older care, Social care

Large hike in assessments on back of Care Bill reforms is likely to lead to two-tier system with some cases outsourced to charities or providers

By on November 21, 2013 in Adults, News adults, Social care leaders

Picture credit: Burger/Phanie/Rex Features

Picture credit: Burger/Phanie/Rex Features

Councils may have to outsource low-level assessments to free up social workers for more complex cases and deal with a big hike in demand arising from care funding reforms.

That was the message from the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (Adass), the Local Government Association (LGA) and council chief executives’ body Solace, in their response to the government’s consultation on the reforms, under the Care Bill.

Councils are expected to assess an additional 180,000 to 230,000 people and carry out an additional 440,000 to 530,000 reviews in 2016-17, because the reforms will incentivise many more self-funders to approach their council.

Only by having their needs assessed and regularly reviewed will self-funders be able to take advantage of the £72,000 cap on their eligible care costs that is the centrepiece of the government’s funding reforms. This would provide them with an “independent personal budget”, setting out what their council would spend on their care if it were meeting it, which would accumulate in a “care account” until they reached the cap.

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