Cheselden Continuing Care Ltd » BBC News

Welsh Assembly meets to debate care report

ericstenson — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 19:19:54 +0000

The Welsh Assembly met on 26 January 2010 to debate the country’s latest care and social services report, which indicates that urgent action should be taken to improve falling standards. Issues raised in the Care & Social Services Inspectorate Wales (CSSIW) annual report include widespread inconsistency in the quality and availability of social care services across the country. Although some areas are showing improvement, Deputy Minister for Social Services, Gwenda Thomas, admitted in the debate that Welsh local authorities face considerable challenges in improving the services they offer. Conservative Assembly Member Jonathan Morgan called for an external review of the role and responsibilities of the CSSIW and questioned its ability to effectively inspect care homes. He comments: ‘Many of those now carrying out inspections within CSSIW were people who used to inspect social services. They may have years of experience of inspecting social services but they are not very good at inspecting care homes, where a lot of our vulnerable elderly people may be looked after. This simply isn’t good enough. We must ensure that the very best care providers in the sector are maintained and the worst and repeat offenders are weeded out and driven out of the market.’

You can watch the debate online at the BBC website.

Politics Show highlights the problem of ageism in Wales

Cheselden — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:00:00 +0000

The BBC’s Politics Show Wales has tackled the issue of ageism in the provision of services by the Welsh NHS and by the country’s care and housing providers. The Welsh branch of the newly-merged charity Age Concern and Help the Aged has described all these services as ‘institutionally ageist’ and has stated that ageism in Wales is rife across both the public and private sectors. The charity’s equalities manager Martyn Jones described to the BBC how some health service treatments were perceived to have an ‘imposed cut off that was based entirely on the chronological age…where perhaps certain services are not delivered to older people.’ Mr Jones went on to comment that the provision of treatments to older people appears to be analysed during diagnosis to see if it is cost-effective to provide the treatment and therefore extend the patient’s life. Both the Royal College of Nursing and the Welsh NHS have vehemently denied the accusations of ageism and reject the implication that clinical decisions are made on the cost-effectiveness of treating elderly people. However, a spokesperson for the Royal College did acknowledge that if people actively think that there is an ageism issue, then that is itself a problem.

You can find out more and watch a video clip from the Politics Show Wales at the BBC website.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
16:33

National Audit Office raises concerns about end of life care in England

Cheselden — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

BBC News reports that the NAO has stated that current end of life services in England are not meeting people’s needs. Too many people are dying in hospices when they have expressed a wish to be at home. This is due to a lack of available resources to support patients and their families at home, plus a lack of co-ordination between Social Services and the NHS when both are involved in the end of life care package. The Government has pledged almost £300m of funding to tackle the problem, but the NAO is not sure this will be enough. To read the article in full and find links to related articles, visit the Health section of the BBC website.

posted by Cheselden Continuing Care at
13:43