New report reveals key concerns around care

2010-01-26 23:45:42

The charity Counsel and Care has published a new report highlighting the key areas of concern around care that were raised in 2009. Based on the enquiries that the charity received last year, an increasing number of people are now worried about relatives losing or lacking the mental capacity to make their own decisions about care. ‘Care Concerns 2009’ reveals that 10% of calls to Counsel and Care in 2009 were about mental capacity issues and the lack of support available to help affected people manage financial decisions and gain access to appropriate and good quality care. However, concerns about paying for care still topped the scale – accounting for 25% of all enquiries received. Of these, 60% were from people receiving no local authority funding who wanted advice about how to cover care costs. In the report, Counsel and Care reveals that 155,000 people living in care homes are now self-funding – around 41% of the total number of residents. According to a recent Laing & Buisson survey, the weekly average care home fee is now £479 per week. On the home care side, 90,000 people with a high level of need are paying for all care received, which can be up to £455 per week. However, Labour’s Personal Care Bill means that this care may be free in future. Commenting on the report’s findings, Counsel and Care’s chief executive Stephen Burke warned that ‘...doing nothing is not an option for government in 2010...the issues highlighted from Counsel and Care’s Advice Service in 2009 show that radical reform is urgently needed.’