Action - not just words needed to tackle care crisis
22/06/2009
Older people, their families and carers are facing a massive care crisis as the care gap widens, according to national charity Counsel and Care. Practical action – not just words – is urgently needed to patch up the gaping holes in the current care system.
The care gap is widening – there are growing numbers of older people but fewer people are getting care and support. Older people, their families and carers are struggling to get the quality care and support they urgently need. Many have to sell their homes or use their lifetime savings to pay for the ever-increasing costs of a care home place. Hundreds of thousands of other older people are unable to get the practical support and care that they need to stay at home, with great pressure placed on families and carers.
Up-to-date and accurate advice and information about care is difficult to come by for those older people who have to pay for the full cost themselves, leaving many struggling at the very time they need help most. All too often, people are forced to make a choice of care home based on incomplete information and often during a time of crisis.
Stephen Burke, Chief Executive of Counsel and Care, said: “Now is the time for radical reform in order to create a care system that is simpler, fairer, consistent, transparent and flexible – for everyone who needs care and support.
“The forthcoming green paper on care and support must spark wide public debate about what we want the future of care funding to look like and, what our collective rights and responsibilities are in society as a whole to ensure that greater priority is placed on good quality of life in older age.”
“However, the debate about the future must not delay the urgent changes we need to see now.
“Practical action must happen, including a review of capital limits and the pitiful personal expenses allowance for care home residents, help with deferred payments, a review of increasing home care charges, and better financial support for carers. Such immediate changes could together make a huge positive impact on the lives of older people, their families and carers.”
Copies of Lifelong: a new vision for the wellbeing of all older people, their families and carers can be downloaded from the website lined below.