Category Archives: Older care
Age UK warning over lack of spending on elderly care
The dignity of elderly people is being lost because of a lack of spending on social care for elderly people, charity bosses have said.
by DAN GRIMMER Tuesday, January 31, 2012
9:39 AM
The charity Age UK this week published a report called Care In Crisis, which said councils have only budgeted for £7.3bn for social care in the face of substantial reductions in central government funding.
And Phil Wells, chief executive of Age UK Norwich, said it was time to work out a way to support the next generation of elderly people.
He said: “We, as a community in Norfolk, have got to get together and find out what is the best way of supporting the people who need help.
Cheap loans plan to help elderly keep independence
Older people would be given financial help to stay in their homes longer and delay going into care under plans drawn up by Government advisers.
By James Kirkup
8:00AM GMT 30 Jan 2012
The Department of Health is considering plans for a major drive to reduce the number of people going into care homes and reduce the cost of social care.
The centrepiece of the initiative would be Government-subsidised loans to the elderly to fund home improvements including downstairs bathrooms, stairlifts and other “property improvements” that would allow them to stay in their own houses longer.
Younger people will also be urged to volunteer to spend time with elderly neighbours, helping address the loneliness that helps push some into care homes.
As politicians struggle to overhaul the fragmented social care system, ministers are looking for new ways to reduce the flow of older people into residential care, which is much more expensive than remaining at home.
Elderly fall through gaps in broken care system
Elderly people are being let down by a lack of co-operation between the NHS and council-run social care, MPs are set to warn this week.
A report by the all-party health select committee is expected to recommend the two budgets should be pooled, to prevent wrangling over who pays for care.
Dr Dan Poulter, a Conservative MP on the committee, said the elderly were “falling through the gaps” between the services.
He said the decision to allow GPs to abandon responsibility for out of hours care had been “the single biggest disaster in medical care” in a decade, causing more elderly people to attend hospital casualty departments because they had nowhere else to turn.
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