Personal Care at Home bill extended to cover intermediate care

2010-02-12 19:40:38

The Prime Minister has announced that the Personal Care at Home bill will be extended to provide people aged 65+ with six weeks of free home care after they have left hospital or residential care, or after they have suffered an illness or injury at home. This type of care, often referred to as ‘intermediate care’ prevents unnecessary hospital or care home admissions and enables people to be discharged earlier with the reassurance of knowing they will receive extra support at home. Tens of thousands of people could benefit from the wider implementation of this care, which would form part of the National Care Service – due to be outlined in the forthcoming White Paper on social care. In a speech to the Kings Fund, Gordon Brown described the beneficiaries of the new intermediate care service as primarily ‘...older people on middle incomes or with lower incomes who struggle daily with the costs and problems of living with frailty and disability.’ Details of how the scheme will be funded are to be included in the White Paper.