Home care for elderly cut by 25% in five years

December 18, 2013   Carers, Older care, ukcuts

Charities say thousands are being denied dignity and peace of mind because of council spending cuts

  • Cash-strapped authorities limiting provision with tougher rules
  • Number of elderly having meals on wheels almost halved in last two years
  • Number of pensioners receiving home care dropped 12% to 385,000
  • Age UK say figures show ‘how increasingly desperate the care crisis is’

By Sophie Borland

PUBLISHED: 00:18, 18 December 2013 | UPDATED: 00:18, 18 December 2013

 

Charities said thousands of elderly and other vulnerable adults are being denied dignity and peace of mind because of council spending cuts

The number of elderly people being given state-funded care in their homes has dropped by a quarter in just five years, according to official figures.

Charities said thousands of elderly and other vulnerable adults are being denied dignity and peace of mind because of council spending cuts.

Cash-strapped authorities nationwide are limiting their provision with tougher rules on who is entitled to receive help, despite the need growing as the population ages.

A total of 1.3million people receive state-funded home help, a place in a care home or hot meals – down from 1.7million in 2007-08.

In the last two years, the number of elderly having meals on wheels has almost halved from 45,000 to 23,000.

Meanwhile there has been a 12 per cent fall in those receiving home care, from 437,000 to 385,000.

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A health trust is celebrating the success of its first term in a series of workshops

December 17, 2013   Carers, mental health, Norfolk

Celebration event for first term of Norfolk and Suffolk recovery college

The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Recovery College celebration event at Dunston Hall. Speaker Sue Howlett. Picture: Denise Bradley The Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Recovery College celebration event at Dunston Hall. Speaker Sue Howlett. Picture: Denise Bradley

Adam Gretton Health correspondent adam.gretton@archant.co.uk
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
11:58 AM

A health trust is celebrating the success of its first term in a series of workshops and courses to empower people with mental health challenges to become experts in their own recovery.

Around 70 people attended a celebration event for Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust’s (NSFT) Recovery College, which was set up earlier this year.

More than 120 students attended one day workshops and courses on offer in the first term of the college, which are run from Hellesdon Hospital in Norwich, and have been staged across Norfolk and Suffolk.

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Tablets and apps might be doctor’s orders of the future

December 17, 2013   Carers, health

By Jane Wakefield Technology reporter

Devices can enable doctors to closely monitor a patient

Doctor's waiting room Is the doctor’s waiting room due for an update?

If you have ever sat in a doctor’s waiting room, next to someone with a hacking cough and with only a pile of out-of-date Reader’s Digests for company, then you may have asked whether the system was fit for 21st Century living.

The NHS seems under increasing pressure, from GP surgeries to accident and emergency rooms. It feels as if the healthcare system is in desperate need of CPR – the question is will technology be the thing that brings it back to life?

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