Tag Archives: Older care

Queen’s speech 2012: Draft bill on social care announced

Who should pay to look after the elderly and disabled?

By James Gallagher Health and science reporter, BBC News


The Queen’s Speech

A draft bill on overhauling care and support for elderly and disabled people in England has been announced in the Queen’s Speech.

The bill will put “people in control of their care and give them greater choice,” ministers say.

The contentious issue of how social care is paid for is still unclear.

This week, charities and the Local Government Association called for radical change to prevent people being left “living in misery and fear”.

The elderly and disabled cannot afford to wait

Every week brings more evidence of the growing crisis in care for older and disabled people.

By Liz Kendall MP, Shadow Minister for Care and Older People

7:00AM BST 08 May 2012

Appalling cases of abuse or neglect in hospitals and care homes have rightly hit the headlines. However, there is also a hidden care crisis affecting thousands of families across the country.

Many struggle to find the help they need when a loved one becomes ill or frail. Some elderly people end up with only 15 minute home visits to get them up, washed, dressed and fed.

Elderly care funding should focus on poorest, says Duncan Smith thinktank

Report by Centre for Social Justice calls for resources to be concentrated on pensioners with few or no assets

  • Nicholas Watt, chief political correspondent
  • guardian.co.uk,
Iain Duncan Smith’s thinktank, the Centre for Social Justice, says low pay, poor training and lack of oversight has to led to ‘very poor quality of home care for the most disadvantaged older people’. Photograph: Geoff Newton

Funding for the long-term care of elderly people should be targeted at the poorest pensioners with few or no assets, according to a report by Iain Duncan Smith‘s thinktank.