Systemic problems forcing older people into care, says Wales commissioner
Sarah Rochira said bad planning over hospital discharges and a lack of communication between the NHS and local services left some with no choice.
About 23,000 older people are in residential care homes in Wales.
The Welsh government said it was prioritising funding to councils to support social services.
Ms Rochira told The Wales Report on BBC Wales that some older people were not getting the information and advice they needed to enable them to stay at home.
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It was only through a fluke conversation with a social worker that I got the information I needed”
Alma Johns on a perceived lack of information
“One of the things that concerns me is the variation in the information and the advice that people get,” she said.
“It can depend on where you live and who you know, and I think that’s quite simply wrong. There are huge variations across Wales and there is good practice out there, but we need to see that practice become standard practice.”
ONE WOMAN’S EXPERIENCES
Alma Johns from Hengoed, Caerphilly county, experienced lack of information first hand after falling ill, having a hip replacement and needing in-home aids installed to cope.
But it was only by coincidence that she came across the information she needed to avoid going into a care home in her late 50s.
“It was only through a fluke conversation with a social worker that I got the information I needed. I knew nothing at all about it,” she said.
“As luck would have it, I’ve now had the stair lift and shower grab bars put in but it still took a time for everything to get finished- two years.
“But I am so, so grateful because without that conversation, we would’ve probably ended up selling the house and moving into old aged pensioners accommodation.”
Problems with processes around discharging older people from hospital and a disconnect between local social services and the health service can also see older people forced out of their own property and onto a merry-go-round of care homes and hospitals.
Dr David Leopold, one of Wales’ leading geriatric consultants, told The Wales Report that too often the decision to move an older person into a care home after a stay in hospital was not made by the doctor or patient.
“The final decision is actually rarely made by the doctor,” he said.
“You’d be surprised by that statement, I think. I think that the concept that decisions are made by the bedside… is simply wrong.”
Many older people enter care homes after a stay in hospital prompted by a crisis.
But according to Dr Leopold, a move into residential accommodation can be seriously detrimental to an older person’s health.
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The Welsh government is prioritising funding to local authorities to support social services”
Welsh government spokesperson
He said when faced with the option of returning home or entering residential care, the decision for most of his patients was an easy one.
In fewer than 20 years, there will be more than a million people in Wales over the age of 65, putting enormous financial pressure on local authorities, health and social services.
But Mark Drakeford AM, chair of the Welsh assembly inquiry into residential care for older people, said he was “confident that the quality of the system will improve, despite budgetary constraints”.
Mr Drakeford disagreed with the commissioner’s belief that some older people are not making the decision themselves to enter care homes.
A Welsh government spokesperson said: “The Welsh government is prioritising funding to local authorities to support social services.
“Over the period 2011-12 to 2013-14, we are committed to increasing funding at 1% better than the uplift to the block grant to Wales. This means an additional £35m over the period for local authority social services.”
