Category Archives: ukcuts

Home care fees rise by up to 160pc as rationing takes hold

September 19, 2013   Carers, Older care, Social care, ukcuts

Elderly and disabled people who need care in their own homes have been hit with rises of up to 160 per cent in their bills in just five years, new research shows.

By , Social Affairs Editor

7:00AM BST 19 Sep 2013

New care measure 'sets bar too high' for elderly and disabled, say charities Home care fees rise by up to 160pc as rationing takes hold Photo: IAN JONES

The number of areas in which the state support for care is available to anyone other than the most frail has also halved in the same period, it discloses.

A study by Which?, the consumer rights group, exposes the full extent to which councils are rationing care as they attempt to absorb major cuts to their budgets.

Based on information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, it discloses that there are now only 12 local authorities in England and Wales still offering care to people whose needs are officially assessed as “moderate”. Five years ago it was able to identify 26 areas where this was still available.

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‘Good neighbours’ are not the answer to our care problems

September 13, 2013   Carers, Older care, Social care, ukcuts

‘Good neighbours’ are not the answer to our care problems

Professional care is expensive. Professional care is expensive.

Thursday, September 12, 2013
12:00 PM

So Suffolk County Council’s cabinet has decided to have a review of the way home care is delivered in the county . . . and is talking about community services, improving services etc etc.

I would love to think that the county council could find the Holy Grail that will allow more and more people to be cared for in a better way in the community while spending less money.

Sadly, in the real world these aspirations are wholly unrealistic. The changing demographics of the 21st Century mean many of the “community solutions” are not viable.

There seems to be an idea that being a “good neighbour” in communities across Suffolk will ease the burden of home care. That is just not the case. There is the world of difference in Mrs Smith’s neighbour knocking on the door and seeing if she wants anything from the village shop and the kind of professional care that is increasingly being needed.

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Paid Carers to be electronically monitored in bid to save cash.

September 12, 2013   Carers, ukcuts, Uncategorized

Carers to be electronically monitored in bid to save cash

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Carers will be monitored electronically to make sure they provide the care they are supposed to.

Gloucestershire County Council bosses say the Electronic Call Monitoring (ECM)scheme is not about keeping tabs on people but it will lead to major savings and keep people “safe”.

  1. Kathy Williams

The ECM system will initially only apply to care professionals who help people with learning disabilities.

Carers will check in to the system when they arrive at a client’s house and check out when they leave while alerts will be flagged when a carer doesn’t arrive within a particular timeframe.

At the moment the county council commissions carers to provide a certain amount of care but it has no concrete way of knowing if the number of hours commissioned, and paid for, is actually being delivered.

Accurately tracking the movements of carers will change that, allowing the council to only pay them for the service they actually provide.

The scheme was piloted by a handful of providers in Gloucestershire last year, showing the council it can expect savings in the region of seven per cent.

The learning disability community based care budget is worth £21 million a year.

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