Posted in News on May 31st, 2010
The General Medical Council (GMC) has published new guidance on end of life care to support healthcare professionals in making difficult decisions about the care of terminally ill patients. The new guidance is much more comprehensive than the previous version and is aimed at all clinicians that are involved in end of life care, not [...]
Posted in News on May 31st, 2010
The trustees of the MS Society are soon to debate whether the charity will keep open its four residential respite care homes, or whether it will close them and redirect the funds into a more personalised respite care service. Its decision could have repercussions for other disability charities that currently use traditional methods of respite [...]
Posted in News on May 31st, 2010
The charity Alzheimer’s Society has welcomed the appointment of Paul Burstow, a Liberal Democrat MP, as Care Services Minister in the new coalition government. A former member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Dementia, Mr Burstow is well known for his support of issues relating to dementia and the care of older people. The [...]
Posted in News on May 31st, 2010
The new government has announced it is establishing an independent Commission on Long Term Care that will advise on how social care should be funded in future. The Commission will report back within a year. Health Secretary Andrew Lansley (Conservative) also revealed that the government will not be introducing Labour’s Personal Care at Home Bill, [...]
Posted in News on May 17th, 2010
Now that the Conservative party and the Liberal Democrats have come together to form a coalition government, the two parties must agree on how to shape the future of adult social care and how it is funded. It is encouraging to note that in his first speech as Prime Minister, David Cameron acknowledged the plight [...]
Posted in News on May 17th, 2010
The Law Commission is appealing for input from the general public about how adult social care laws should be reformed. The organisation was recently tasked with overhauling the current system of laws, which are confusing and in some cases, date back over 60 years. There are two ways that people can make their views known: [...]
Posted in News on May 17th, 2010
The new charity Age UK, formed when Age Concern and Help the Aged merged in 2009, has published a series of new factsheets on its website, www.ageuk.org.uk. The factsheets replace those that were previously available separately from Age Concern or Help the Aged and have been updated to reflect the latest information. Topics covered include:
NHS [...]
Posted in News on May 17th, 2010
Welsh Health Minister Edwina Hart has published four new action plans that aim to improve services for people suffering from dementia. The plans will each tackle a separate area:
Enabling earlier diagnosis
Shortening hospital stays
Reducing the inappropriate use of anti-psychotic drugs
Improving the availability and quality of support services.
Around 37,000 Welsh people are believed to have dementia, with [...]
Posted in News on May 17th, 2010
The Care Alliance has launched a new online survey to find out whether the recent economic pressures that have been put on local authorities have affected the amount or quality of social care that they are providing. The survey can be completed by the person receiving care, their carer, a relative or friend. It takes [...]
Posted in News on May 6th, 2010
The Times reports on the potential risks of investing in a bond to cover the future cost of care. The article gives the example of Rosemary Upton, who took out a long-term care bond in 1997 after the death of her husband. The bond should have provided around £750 a week should Rosemary develop certain [...]
