Category Archives: Older care
Elderly care: Millions of pounds refunded in mistaken charges
The Welsh government has ordered a review of free care assessments.
Multi-million pound mistakes in charging sick, elderly people for nursing care they should have had free have been revealed by BBC Wales.
Health boards have already refunded £3.6m to patients who were originally told they were not entitled to NHS Continuing Healthcare Funding.
Millions of pounds in further refunds are anticipated as a backlog of almost 2,000 cases are determined.
Unison warns of care funding crisis
Day centre closures could lead to a crisis in elderly care, claims Unison
The Government has been warned of a “crisis” in care for the elderly because of widespread closures and cuts hitting day centres.
Unison said ministers should ensure that local councils are given the funding they need to keep day care centres running. Closing them was described as a “false economy” because they provide much-needed respite for carers, as well as monitoring and improving the physical and mental health of users.
Care home nurses to be taught to play board games with dementia patients to stop them being prescribed chemical cosh
Nurses in care homes will be taught to play board games with dementia patients to prevent them being prescribed anti-psychotic medication.
PUBLISHED: 00:22, 16 June 2012 | UPDATED: 00:22, 16 June 2012
Nurses in care homes will be taught to play board games with dementia patients to prevent them being prescribed anti-psychotic medication.
Under a Government-backed scheme, they will be encouraged to help patients with hobbies such as baking and painting in the hope it will help their symptoms.
It follows concerns that thousands of the elderly with dementia are being given drugs to sedate them and stop them wandering off.
Such drugs – dubbed a ‘chemical cosh’ – have been found to double the risk of death and actually worsen patients’ symptoms leaving them unable to walk or speak coherently.
Over the next few month nurses in 150 care homes in the UK will be trained to care for patients as people, rather than just a condition.
They will be taught to find out what hobbies patients used to enjoy when they were younger and encouraging them to take part in the activites in the care home.
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