Norfolk County Council u-turn on elderly care cash welcomed by campaigners
Richard Wheeler Monday, January 23, 2012
7.47 PM
Norfolk County Council had revealed proposals to axe the Quality Assurance Service.
But the plan prompted an EDP-backed campaign from Age UK Norfolk, Age UK Norwich and older people’s forums, which warned this could jeopardise the safety of elderly people at a time when the service was already being overhauled.
The county council insisted a replacement service is being developed but the Conservative cabinet announced it had found a way to keep the money in the budget while the change over takes place.
Council leader Derrick Murphy said he instructed senior officers and councillors to investigate over the weekend if the cash could be made available, following meetings with Unison.
He told the EDP: “My background is in education and one of the important things is that schools ought to go away and do what they like but quality assurance makes sure they do it to a standard. That’s why quality assurance is vital. If we are redesigning the service, to make sure the quality is sustained I think that’s why quality assurance is so important.”
Lady Joyce Hopwood, chairman of both the Norfolk Older People’s Strategic Partnership Board and Norwich Older People’s Forum, said: “I’ve been really concerned about it and I think it’s absolutely splendid news. This is not the moment to cut quality assurance.”
George Nobbs, Labour group leader at the county council, said pressure and questioning from the authority’s community services overview scrutiny panel had proven to be crucial.
This included securing a seminar to educate councillors about the Quality Assurance Service’s work, suggested by Mr Nobbs.
He said: “Everybody on the panel was so convinced it’s such an essential service that it would be so risky to get rid of it. Commonsense has prevailed again, which is beginning to happen at this council and is all for the good.”
Stephen Little, a Norwich city councillor for Town Close, said the Green Party had “consistently campaigned” on retaining quality assurance.
He said: “There has been no shortage of national news stories over the year which have illustrated how cuts to quality assurance would not be an appropriate way for the council to save money.”
Age UK Norfolk and Age UK Norwich launched the Cut Cake Not Care campaign after the county council revealed proposals to cut £11m from preventative care.
These services are aim to spot signs of illness early and help the elderly retain their independence so they do not end up in hospital or residential care.
Local authorities are having to make changes to how they run adult social care services due to government proposals. By April 2013, care cash will be removed from councils and handed over to individuals, in the form of personal budgets.
Day care services could struggle to secure money if people choose to spend their care cash in other ways.
But Mr Murphy said: “The cabinet is very aware of the anxiety and concerns raised about the redesign of adult social care, in particular day care. These changes will be closely monitored and scrutinised by members to ensure high standards are attained.”
Phil Wells, Age UK Norwich’s chief executive, said he was pleased an extra £2.5m was included in the budget during the transition period for care services but it was unclear how this will be used.
He added: “I think quality assurance is the bigger issue. As we get more people and more smaller organisations involved, cutting that would have been entirely the wrong direction. They have been listening and that’s encouraging.”
