Tag Archives: ukcuts

Lack of funding could threaten Care Act reforms, councils warn

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

Thousands of OAPs are denied handrails or stairlifts in their homes

Despite alterations helping to keep them independent

Number of home adaptations installed has plummeted by 5,500 since 2011

  • Lack is one reason why elderly patients can not be discharged from hospital
  • But critics say councils have cut back while still paying huge salaries

By Tamara Cohen

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Thousands of elderly people are being denied vital home alterations that keep them out of hospital and help them stay independent, it emerged yesterday.

Improvements such as handrails, stairlifts and ramps can stop them being hurt in falls – but the number being installed has plummeted by 5,500 since 2011.

Neil Churchill: what I learnt from my day with carers

Following the publication of NHS England’s Commitments to Carers, I spent a day shadowing carers and hearing their experiences first hand, writes Neil Churchill

I was sitting in the kitchen with the first carer I would shadow when his mobile rang. It was his mum’s social worker calling to discuss what would happen when a respite placement ended. As he spoke, his landline rang and another social worker left a message. Today was the “eye of the storm” in juggling his own disability with caring for a mother and father who had both lost their independence, and who needed round the clock support.

“Welcome to my world,” he said as he came off the phone.

‘To him, care was fragmented and not a system at all; he was the only one who held all the pieces’

This was the start of a day organised for me by Carers Support West Sussex, as part of their efforts to help me understand the experience of being a carer, so I could be more effective at delivering NHS England’s Commitment to Carers.