There’s still a good deal of muttering about a comment a few weeks ago by new NHS chief executive Simon Stevens that he was looking forward to the demise of care homes. “It would be a disappointment,” he told charity Age UK’s annual Later Life conference, “if in 30, 40, 50 years’ time, nursing homes still existed.”
Category Archives: Social care
Will the Care Act blur the distinction between health and social care?
August 14, 2014
Carers, Featured Article, Social care
Call for greater clarity ahead of new legislation
Thursday 14 August 2014 08.30 BST
David Brindle, guardian Professional
Chief executive of the NHS, Simon Stevens, who has suggested he would like to see care homes close. Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
Lack of funding could threaten Care Act reforms, councils warn
August 8, 2014
Carers, Featured Article, Older care, Social care, ukcuts
Local Government Association poll highlights council concerns over cost burdens of landmark reforms
Nine out of ten councils believe that key planks of the Care Act will be jeopardised unless the government gives local authorities ‘adequate’ funding to implement the reforms, a survey by the Local Government Association has found.
In reforms to be introduced in April 2016, the Act will allow self-funding service users to request an assessment to be considered for a ‘cap’ on their care costs. But the LGA poll of 152 local authorities found that councils had “major” concerns over the cost of the policy.
Are 15-minute homecare visits always bad?
July 29, 2014
Carers, Featured Article, Social care
Shorter visits can have a place within a wider care package
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Mike Webster, assistant director, North Yorkshire county council
- Guardian Professional,
‘Service users often wish to know what time people are going to turn up and for how long they will stay.’
Local authority commissioners often face criticism for the regimented way they purchase care and particularly for the hourly rates they offer. Interested observers will talk about the need to purchase care around outcomes, rather than the seemingly outdated method of paying by the hour, half hour or 15 minutes. In reality this is a bit of a holy grail as very few local authorities have mastered the art of outcome-based commissioning. This is made more difficult by the fact that service users often wish to know what time people are going to turn up and for how long they will stay. There is also the small matter of deciding how to pay for such arrangements.
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