£150m home care boost for elderly patients

[enaid]

£150m home care boost for elderly patients



Ministers have allocated an extra £150m for patients to get care at home after warnings that local authority cuts were creating a "crisis" in social care.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said the cash for England has been found from efficiency savings in his budget.

Another £20m will also be directed to the disabled facilities grant to help people live independently at home.

Last week the charity Age UK warned that cuts could leave older people with "absolutely no support at all".

Mr Lansley said: "Older people often need particular support after a spell in hospital to settle back into their homes, recover their strength and regain their independence.

"This money will enable the NHS and social care to work better together for the benefit of patients."

Meanwhile, the King's Fund think-tank has warned that older people were unnecessarily taking up hospital beds, threatening NHS efficiency savings targets.

It urged the NHS to cut the number who arrived as emergency cases but stayed for more than two weeks - even after they had recovered - because "fragmented" care arrangements did not offer them the support they needed to be discharged.

'Stealth tax'
The government has already set aside £648m for primary care trusts to support social care services in 2011-12.

The Local Government Association's community wellbeing board welcomed the extra money which it said was recognition that the current system was under-funded.

Chairman David Rogers said: "For those entitled to taxpayer-funded care and support, councils are having to balance the long-term triple pressures of insufficient funding, growing demand and escalating costs.

"Alongside that are the ever-growing numbers of people who must pay the costs themselves, but still need information and advice to help them make the most appropriate choices."

Shadow health minister Liz Kendall has called recent increases in home care charges for older and disabled people "a stealth tax on the most vulnerable in society".

She said last week: "The government is out-of-touch with the growing crisis in care.

"Their brutal cuts to funding for local council services are pushing up charges and placing an even greater burden on the people who most need help."

BBC News - £150m home care boost for elderly patients

[Monzter]

Re: £150m home care boost for elderly patients

I am probably going to get shouted at for this but recently I have noticed that a lot of social workers are causing more care problems than they solve.

We have had 4 admissions recently who needed to be moved on pretty quick for their own and our current clients and the staffs safety. People may not know the way the care system works, if you are government funded rather than pay for your own care (don't get me started on THAT btw!!).

Basically if you are deemed by a GP, relative or hospital staff to need 24 hour care, then a social worker is appointed. Finances are determined and the persons ability to make informed decisions. If it is apparent that the person needs care but cannot arrange that and has no one close to arrange it for them, the s/w takes over. Most times the person is at home, in crisis, or in hospital but no longer needs to be on medical grounds. The S/W will then look for short term 'respite' care and the application for this funding will 'go to panel'. If and when approved the S/W will then attempt to place the client in a care setting.

Probably due to their massive work loads and the urgency of the situations, often the suitability of the setting is shall we say, overlooked slightly. Meaning that clients are often placed in care settings that were never going to meet their needs. This not only puts that person at risk but the clients already in that setting, the staff and visitors too. Now that can be bad enough, but (and I have personal experience of this) social workers will often mysteriously disappear, or they were part of the emergency team and you need to go through the whole process again. During this time the client is unsafe and sometimes this ends badly.

Sad but true.

What do you all think about me writing a guide for this section on looking for respite care/ permanent care for our elderly and vulnerable society members to post in here? A lot of people don't know what choices are available or even where to start, what happens or what they can expect. Anyone think it'd be a good idea?

[enaid]

Re: £150m home care boost for elderly patients

I would appreciate any info of any kind on this subject tbh.
Don't get me started on Social Workers, my thoughts on them are they are people who interfere in others lives because they don't have a life of their own, sorry but have a belly full of them over the years with my daughter and then my dad.
I for one am having loads of problems with both at the moment for very different reasons, but the bottom line is the third rate service and help the disabled and elderly now seem to be getting.
I can't get my dad out of his own home I have had him 2 flats so far and tried to get him to visit warden controlled places but no go.
I am worried that although me and my sister have LPA that he will have to be admitted somewhere for his own safety sooner or later and that if and when that time comes we will be stuck for choice or indeed have to sell his house etc to pay for it.
I know the thinking is to keep the elderly in their own homes and I have no objections at all to that as my dad at least desires to do so. The fact is they are leaving it to relatives and friends to help these people knowing full well you can not see them struggle. They also employ people who are unfit to say the least to take on carers jobs leaving many people too worried to get help they need.
I have only this week had to involve the police as for the second time scammers have been to dads saying his roof needs repairing and trying to get money from him. Only because of his good neighbours bringing this to my attention was it stopped. I am mentioning this because it seems even in their own homes and they are being looked after they are still being scammed etc.
Sorry to go on but I feel really upset and angry about things that are allowed to go on and about how other groups are thought of and treated more highly than our elderly and disabled.


Thanks Enaid x

[Monzter]

Re: £150m home care boost for elderly patients

Oh Enaid this must be a nightmare!! I know what you mean about the social workers though!!

I have a few things to do but I'll be back later with some ideas and things X

[Monzter]

Re: £150m home care boost for elderly patients

Don't get me started on Social Workers, my thoughts on them are they are people who interfere in others lives because they don't have a life of their own, sorry but have a belly full of them over the years with my daughter and then my dad.
I for one am having loads of problems with both at the moment for very different reasons, but the bottom line is the third rate service and help the disabled and elderly now seem to be getting.

I agree, I have had social workers asking me to 'hang on to [the client] over the weekend' when they are blatantly unsuitable for the environment just because it'll give them a headache to try and arrange a new placement. Could have avoided all that by offering the correct environment to start with!!

I can't get my dad out of his own home I have had him 2 flats so far and tried to get him to visit warden controlled places but no go.

Does your Dad not want to leave his home (totally understandable!)? Very tough. Has he had a definitive diagnosis of a type of dementia from a specialist?

no go.
I am worried that although me and my sister have LPA that he will have to be admitted somewhere for his own safety sooner or later and that if and when that time comes we will be stuck for choice or indeed have to sell his house etc to pay for it.
I know the thinking is to keep the elderly in their own homes and I have no objections at all to that as my dad at least desires to do so. The fact is they are leaving it to relatives and friends to help these people knowing full well you can not see them struggle. They also employ people who are unfit to say the least to take on carers jobs leaving many people too worried to get help they need.

It may come to that point, and then yes choice will be limited unfortunately. Yes unfortunately this aspect is played on alot. I see it all the time where relatives are forced to make the decision they dread as they can no longer cope and help is either non existent or the care assistants employed are well, awful. Care in the home is a fantastic idea in principle, in practice it leaves the employee and client very vulnerable. Does your Dad have a care package in place? Have you looked into respite residential care at all?

OK I don't know an awful lot about the funding side of things but we have info at work on it for the residents and I will ask my boss, though I think it varies from council to council. What I do know is there are upper limits of savings, above that limit (or assets) then you have to contribute to your own care (GGGRRRRR!!!) if your savings (or assets) are below then you are 'funded'.

As for the scumbags - get a dummy cctv if your Dad will allow and train it on the door, out a notice up saying that you are on cctv and it also records audio! Hell, get a real one if you can, it might make them think twice about it.

I'm staring to draft something might take a week or so to research (aka root about at work for leaflets and pick my gaffers brains about things I'm hazy on!) but I'm very up for doing this - I don't think a lot of people know where to start when they need to arrange care for their loved ones.

Hope that above helps a bit Enaid x