However, Mr Burnham’s announcement came as the charity Age Concern and Help the Aged released new figures which indicate that providing more NHS services at home may not be enough to help older people stay independent.  Their survey results reveal that 60% of older people do not think councils give them enough support to help them stay in their own homes.  80% of respondents rely on friends, neighbours and paid carers to help them manage basic tasks such as shopping and cleaning.  Charity director Andrew Harrop comments: ‘Our research clearly shows older people are struggling to live independently in their own homes because the system is failing to provide them with an adequate level of care.  Older people and their families deserve a care system which enshrines dignity and fairness – it’s time for our politicians to deliver this for them.’

The Department of Health has published a report outlining its 5 year plan for reshaping the NHS. Entitled ‘NHS 2010-2015: from good to great. Preventative, people-centred, productive’, the report tells how the NHS plans to meet the country’s increasing care needs whilst dealing with the financial constraints of the recession. Its publication comes in the wake of a recent report from the charity Age Concern, ‘Waiting for Care’, which describes how current NHS targets and initiatives are not meeting the most pressing needs of the UK’s elderly population.

Chapter 2 of the NHS report describes how it will deal with the health and social care issues posed by the UK’s ageing population, in particular long-term health needs, by focusing on preventative medicine, more personalised care with greater patient choice and wider access to community care. Specific measures that will be implemented include:

• Individual strategies to tackle the five most common long-term illnesses: respiratory disease, diabetes, heart disease, asthma and dementia. Notably, the report proposes reducing the use of anti-psychotic drugs to treat dementia by a third over the next 3 years.
• Support for patients to ‘self-care’ at home, reducing traumatic hospital admissions and allowing better management of their condition.
• Joint working with social services and wider access to services such as GPs, to provide better community support.
• Tackling all forms of discrimination, including ageism, and promoting patients’ rights to safe, effective treatment.
• Introducing the National Care Service from October 2010, which will include free personal care at home to all elderly people that require it, helping them to stay independent for as long as possible.

The report can be read in full or downloaded from the Department of Health’s website.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
08:16

Health secretary Andy Burnham has made the second Parliamentary reading of Labour’s Personal Care at Home bill, which proposes providing free home care to all elderly people that require it. As was the case with the first reading, charities have questioned how the £670 cost of funding the care will be met, with Age Concern commenting that the care sector has been left ‘in the dark about its future funding’ and that ‘…people reliant on care services can only fear the worst. Their spokesperson added that: ‘Spending from the health budget should be re-prioritised to provide additional funding for the care system.’ The Alzheimer’s Society warned that people with dementia are still not receiving enough funding and commented ‘These measures will not completely fix a social care system that is failing hundreds of thousands of people with dementia.’ Concerns have also been raised by charities and politicians that the Government’s aim of enabling an extra 400,000 people to be cared for at home ignores the needs of those that will still need to live in care homes.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
08:12

The Queen’s speech at the state opening of Parliament on 18 November – the last before the next general election – has echoed Gordon Brown’s recent pledge to provide free personal home care to the UK’s neediest elderly and disabled people. Around 280,000 people can expect to benefit from the move – although 160,000 of these already receive free home care. However, a further 130,000 could receive cash from a second initiative, the ‘re-enablement allowance’, which would provide funding to help people live independently in their homes for longer, through adaptations such as stair lifts. The changes, which will form part of the new National Care Service, will be rolled out from October 2010 if Labour remains in power. However, charities including Counsel + Care and Age Concern and Help the Aged have questioned the Government’s ability to fund these new services, which would cost an estimated £670m per year. They have also criticised the proposed system’s failure to benefit the UK’s 400,000 care home residents as well as voicing concerns that many younger disabled adults could potentially miss out on funding. Jane Ashcroft of the English Community Care Association commented: ‘It is unhelpful to just have one piece of the jigsaw. Ultimately, the proposals could lead to an even greater drain on public resources without having a tangible impact on the quality of life of our older people.’

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
10:00

The Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) has now issued new forms to be completed to nominate a Lasting Power of Attorney (LPA). The new forms, in force from 1 October 2009, will come as a relief to many who have been put off nominating a LPA because of the length and complexity of the old forms. The new documents were created using input from a number of organisations including Solicitors for the Elderly, the Law Society, Age Concern and the Mental Health Foundation. Public Guardian Martin John officially launched the forms and explained the important of appointing a LPA sooner rather than later: ‘Should you lose mental capacity, it is important to know that someone you trust will be making the important decisions about your health, welfare and finances. The new and improved Lasting Power of Attorney forms make it easier than ever to achieve the peace of mind that comes with knowing future decisions will be taken in accordance with your wishes.’ In the UK, over two million people lack the capacity to make their own decisions due to mental health conditions such as dementia. Charities campaigning for the rights of the elderly and those with mental health conditions have welcomed the introduction of the new forms, although Neil Hunt of the Alzheimer’s Society also commented that more needs to be done under the Mental Capacity Act to ‘ensure people are aware of their rights.’ The new forms can be downloaded from the OPG’s website.

For more information about LPAs and other ways that decisions are made for people who lack capacity, please read Cheselden’s Factsheet 10: ‘Acting on behalf of a friend or relative.’

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
14:50

Below is a selection of official responses to the Green Paper on the future of adult social care in England that was published on 14 July. To read Cheselden’s official response, click here. [link to response in Media section]

Social and health care sector responses

‘The NHS is responsible for funding the nursing care of patients who have health needs, regardless of whether they are in hospital, a care home or their own home. We would fiercely oppose a system where responsibility for meeting the costs of nursing care was shifted onto the patient and subject to means-testing when it should be free on the NHS.’

Dr Peter Carter, chief executive of the Royal College of Nursing

‘Sharing the financial responsibility is the only way that good social care can be afforded. The case for change has been made and we must all respond to the green paper because there are huge implications. This is a long-term issue; it’s about what happens over the next quarter century and it also affects the NHS, housing and benefits.’

Allan Bowman, chair of the Social Care Institute for Excellence

‘The green paper, we hope, points the way towards ending a system in which people find it hard to understand what they are entitled to and what financial contribution they will have to pay towards the cost of their care. Any new system which emerges must be open, transparent about costs and what people can expect to pay and are entitled to receive wherever they live. And it must enhance the continued transformation of social care in a way which helps individuals take greater control of their lives, and care budget.’

Jenny Owen, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services

‘The current system of care is unsustainable in the future and even today has woeful inadequacies… There has been chronic under funding of care services for decades. The sector can rarely put into place the improvements it wants and its customers will expect. A National Care Service in England must also go hand in hand with improvements in quality of care. We urge people to respond to this green paper and to highlight that any new system must drive up quality if it is to command the confidence of citizens.’

Professor Jill Manthorpe, director of the social care workforce research unit at King’s College, London

Charity responses

‘Creating a national care service on a par with the NHS is just what this country needs to meet the demands and expectations of our ageing population. Filling the care gap is one of the biggest challenges we all face. We simply can’t do nothing and ignore the needs of this and future generations of older people…Any new funding system must be fairer, simpler and transparent for all. A ‘care duty’ on people’s estates as a one-off payment to fund comprehensive care has the hallmarks of a better system. Better care is key to building a better country for everyone.’

Stephen Burke, chief executive of Counsel + Care

‘What we need to do now is to test these ideas with the public and importantly, with families – disabled and older people and the people caring for them. They need to tell us what they think will work. It is time for the public to make their views heard in this big care debate. We must make this one of the most important policies of the decade since it touches so many people’s lives.’

Imelda Redmond, chief executive of Carers UK

‘High quality care must be available to all who need it regardless of where they live and whether they are rich or poor. With time now short, the government must set out a clear timetable to move from debating options to agreeing and implementing specific proposals.’

Michelle Mitchell, director of Age Concern and Help the Aged

‘Today the Big Care Debate begins on three new models of funding social care, an essential lifeline for millions of people. Only a system that delivers good care at a fair price will succeed. Currently, if you are unfortunate enough to be amongst the one in three people over 65 who die with dementia you could face enormous bills for poor quality care. This is a gamble people shouldn’t be forced to take…A national care service is a bold vision and it will take courage to see it through. It cannot afford to fail.’

Neil Hunt, chief executive of the Alzheimer’s Society

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
12:48

The charity Age Concern Cymru and Help the Aged in Wales has announced the launch of ‘My Home Life Wales’, a new programme designed to improve the quality of life of residents of Welsh care homes. Recent research has shown that care home residents are amongst the most socially disadvantaged groups in the UK, with mental health problems affecting around two thirds of the population. Staff and management working in the care home sector, whilst doing their best to provide high standards of care for residents, are frequently hampered by bureaucracy and a lack of resources and support. Age Concern and Help the Aged (now merged) has responded to these problems by setting up the ‘My Home Life’ programme which will operate across the UK, with implementation in Wales being handled by the Welsh arm of the charity, supported by the Welsh Assembly. The programme will focus on eight wide-ranging areas that research has identified as necessary to improving the quality of life for care home staff and residents. The concepts of relationship-centred care and the Six Senses Framework will underpin the programme’s work in all eight areas. These concepts consider a care home to be a community where the staff, residents and their friends and families all have six basic ‘senses’ that must be fulfilled: security, continuity, belonging, purpose, achievement and significance. Crucially, ‘My Home Life’ will be run by the care home sector rather than a regulatory body, allowing care homes to take ownership of and manager their own programmes, using existing expertise and positive examples from within the sector to reinforce best practice. For more information on the programme, please visit www.myhomelife.org.uk.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
13:54

Age Concern and Help the Aged has challenged the ‘excellent’ ratings awarded to many local authorities for the standard of social care that they provide to people at home. The charity asserts that despite receiving three star ratings, many councils are failing to provide enough help to vulnerable elderly people with basic tasks such as getting out of bed and personal hygiene. Its own analysis of the councils rated as ‘excellent’ by the Commission for Social Care Inspection (now the Care Quality Commission) showed that 35 out of 56 councils provide this kind of care only to people with ‘critical or substantial’ needs. Many people who are disabled or housebound are not getting enough help from their local authority because their needs have been classified as ‘low’ or ‘moderate’ – so they do not qualify for additional care funding. Age Concern and Help the Aged director Michelle Mitchell comments: ‘The reality is that even the best local councils are leaving many older people to struggle without the care they need, slowly stripping away their dignity and independence. The call for action from older campaigners and their families is loud, clear and unified. It’s time for action, not endless consultation and discussion. Politicians cannot duck the care crisis any longer.’ Ms Mitchell went on to say that £1-2 billion of extra funding is needed to provide an adequate level of social care to those that need it and called for the issue to be dealt with in the forthcoming Government Green Paper on the future of adult social care funding in England.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
12:39

National Carers Week, which ran from 8 to 14 June 2009, involved a wide range of events and projects to highlight the vital role of unpaid carers in the UK. 10 national charities supported the Week, including the Multiple Sclerosis Society, Carers UK, Macmillan Cancer Support and Counsel + Care. Results of two surveys carried out by Carers Week itself and YouGov were announced at the start of the Week and included:

• 86% of people surveyed think that carers make a valuable contribution to society, placing them just a few percentage points behind fire fighters and nurses.
• Almost all respondents think that carers’ benefits are too low with 76% saying that the current level of Carer’s Allowance is ‘unreasonable’.
• There is a huge gap between the perceived and actual number of carers in the UK. There are over 6 million carers, but 71% of people surveyed thought that there are 1.5 million or less.
• The stress experienced by 76% of carers is pushing them to breaking point, with 63% stating that their lives are made harder by lack of recognition of their role by professionals such as GPs and social workers.
• Over half of carers are worse off financially and / or in poorer health because of the care that they undertake.

Carers Week manager Paul Matz explains why it is so important to raise the profile of the UK’s carers: ‘In many instances carers can be equated to the emergency services – because they do step in when there is an emergency, often becoming a carer literally overnight…the work they do saves the UK economy an estimated £87 billion every year. Carers Week is calling on the Government to do more to support carers…Carers shouldn’t have to struggle on alone when they contribute so much.’ The initiative has received widespread support from politicians including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who commented: ‘I am delighted to support Carers Week. It is a valuable opportunity for organisations across all sectors to recognise and promote the increasingly important role that carers play in our society.’ You can find a wealth of information about Carers Week on its website.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
12:28

The charity Age Concern, now merged with Help the Aged, ran a ‘Week of Action on Care’ between 8 and 12 June 2009. The aim was to promote a higher standard of care for older people and to force politicians to take notice of the current failing system. Age Concern actively encouraged people to get involved in the Week of Action in a number of ways, including talking to their local MP about care, sharing their own care experiences or holding a meeting in their area to discuss care. You can find out more about the Week of Action on Care, why it was organised and its aims at Age Concern’s website.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
12:27

Age Concern and Help the Aged in Wales have launched a new care programme called ‘My Home Life Wales’. The programme aims to improve the quality of life for care home residents, staff and visitors. The project will be led by John Moore, who managed a care home and worked for social services in Powys before joining Age Concern and Help the Aged. Funded by the Welsh Assembly’s Health Challenge Wales initiative, it is hoped that the My Home Life Wales programme will be rolled out across Wales after it has been piloted at eight care homes across the country. Mr Moore comments: ‘The programme is the first initiative in care homes to listen to and take on the views of residents, relatives and workers in this way. I’ve worked in social care for 13 years and I was really impressed by the My Home Life Wales goals and ethos.’ Find out more at the My Home Life website.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
11:41

The head of the new Care Quality Commission, Cynthia Bower, has vowed to tackle the existing gap between the nation’s health and social care services. The CQC – the new ‘super regulator’ of England’s care services – aims to improve standards across all areas of care, but is starting with a review into healthcare services that are available to care home residents. Charities and campaigners for the elderly have long been drawing attention to the problems faced by this vulnerable group, including the difficulty of accessing primary health services such as dentists, GPs, nurses and dementia specialists. In an interview with BBC News, reported on their website, Ms Bower admits that these problems and the UK’s ageing population present ‘the biggest challenge facing services in the 21st century…more and more people are going to need access to that care that spans across both social services and the NHS.’ However, she believes that the new single regulator will help in this respect as this will …’focus the minds on the issue…(and) look at how the two are working together.’

The review of standards in care homes, launched on 1 April, will look at both public and private sector homes. It will focus on the quality of primary health care services as well as the level of choice available to residents. Ms Bower has said that the CQC will proactively respond to its findings and will fine homes or close services where necessary. The review has been warmly welcomed by charities such as Age Concern, which comments: ‘Too many older people and their families continue to be horribly let down by health and care services. The quality of care they experience is all too often not up to scratch, so it’s encouraging that this is one of the new commission’s first reviews.’^*

The care homes review is likely to be followed by three other special reviews also focusing on the ‘crossover territory’ between health and social care: care for stroke patients, support for people suffering from mental illness and services for families with disabled children.

The CQC’s work is mirrored by the Government’s launch of 16 pilot projects which also aim to improve the way that health and social care services work together. The £4 million scheme will experiment with different ways of integrating services, rather than retaining the traditional boundary between health and social care, to see how standards for both NHS patients and local authority service users can be improved. Each of the 16 projects will tackle the most pressing health needs in their area including dementia, care for the elderly, substance abuse and end of life care. The pilots were launched on 1 April and will run for two years, after which they will be evaluated and the most successful care models integrated into national best practice. To read more and to find out where the 16 pilot projects are taking place, click here.

^* Age Concern and Help the Aged, now united as one charity, have issued a ‘Seven Point Plan’ for the CQC which can be read on Age Concern’s website.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
16:18

Age Concern England and Help the Aged are to merge, forming a new ‘super charity’ to champion the needs and rights of the nation’s elderly. The move will be formally marked at their joint conference entitled ‘One Voice: Shaping our ageing society’, which is to be held on 7 April 2009 at the Victoria Plaza Hotel in London. ‘One Voice’ will be chaired by Guardian columnist Jackie Ashley and will feature a number of eminent political speakers. The conference – which will be attended by one or more representatives from Cheselden – is aimed at those interested in public policy relating to older people, including:

• Policymakers
• Local authority and Government departments
• Commercial and charitable organisations that work with the elderly
• Health, care and social services professionals
• Older people.

The schedule includes a number of seminars and debates which will enable delegates to discuss in depth the particular issues surrounding their work. Seminars are grouped into seven broad areas covering finance, welfare, personalisation of care, places to age, equal rights, opportunities and ageing as a global problem. A joint policy report by Help the Aged and Age Concern will be launched at the conference, with free copies available to delegates.

For information on the conference, including pricing details, a full schedule and a booking form, please visit the Age Concern website.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
11:57

Care services minister Phil Hope reveals that the National Framework for continuing care, introduced in October 2007, has not achieved its goal of abolishing the ‘postcode lottery’ of care in England. There is still widespread variation in the proportion of people who receive funding for long-term care. Figures released by Mr Hope show that numbers receiving funding vary from 8.9 per 50,000 population in South East Essex PCT to 105.8 per 50,000 in Ashton, Leigh and Wigan PCT. The average figure for the country is 40 people per 50,000 population. The charity Age Concern has responded to Mr Hope’s figures by calling for closer monitoring of those PCTs with unusually low or high levels of funding. It also urges trusts to check that health professionals in their area have been trained in using the Framework.

This news comes as the Government undertakes a review of the Framework, which was designed to end the ‘postcode lottery’ of care funding by introducing a single national standard to be followed by all PCTs. Although this effect has yet to take place, the National Framework has achieved one of its aims, as there has been an overall increase in the numbers of people receiving fully-funded care in 2008-9.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
16:21

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
13:37