ADASS president warns that councils may have to support struggling care homes
2009-05-06 00:00:00
The Localgov website reports that Jenny Owen, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, has stated that local authorities must be ready to bail out failing care homes that have fallen victim to the recession. Speaking at the ADASS annual seminar, Ms Owen also raised the key question of how social care will be funded during the credit crunch. Funding is already under enormous pressure due to increasing house repossessions, homelessness, unemployment and benefits take-up. More people need help to pay for care so social care services are receiving less income than previously and charities are less able to help due to a drop in donations. Other areas addressed by Ms Owen during the seminar included:
- The need for a better working partnership between councils and PCTs
- Abolishing ageism throughout all health and social care services
- The need for an increased understanding of the overall health and social care offer.
Localgov has also published a related article examining the effect that the economic downturn will have on the way that older people are cared for in England. The article looks at the growing pressure faced by local councils as demand for their services increases whilst funding is tightened. The problem will be exacerbated in the long-term by the country’s ageing population – by 2011, it is estimated that there will be 1.4 million people aged over 85. The Government is working to tackle these issues by the introduction of personal care budgets and by launching an adult care workforce strategy to recruit large numbers of trainee and experienced staff into social care careers. However, campaigners remain unconvinced with Age Concern and Help the Aged commenting that: ‘More traineeships are welcome, but the failure to provide emergency funding for our creaking social care system will exacerbate the current crisis. In an era of difficult financial choices, ministers must not use the recession as an excuse to starve the care system of funds it urgently needs.’