End the care crisis: Dilnot must be a ‘turning point’

End the care crisis: Dilnot must be a ‘turning point’

Care and Support Alliance

 

In advance of the publication of the Dilnot Commission’s recommendations on care and support funding, 25 members of the Care and Support Alliance – organisations representing older people, those living with disabilities and long-term conditions and their families – have set out the case for reform. In a joint statement they said:

“The publication of the Dilnot Commission’s recommendations must be a turning point in social care. We can no longer ignore the demographic reality of an ageing population and people living longer with illness and disability. Nor can we ignore a growing number of stories of abuse, neglect and unmet need from a chronically underfunded care system, which now faces further cuts. Successive Governments have kicked the question of long-term care into the long grass. This must not happen again, and the public will not forgive delay or half-measures.

The time is past for tinkering with a crumbling system, and urgent, fundamental reform is needed. A central part of that, and our bottom line for reform, must be additional public funding.

The current system is a postcode lottery of often high charges and poor quality services. Years of underfunding, compounded by cuts this year, mean that hundreds of thousands are going without vital support to eat, wash and live their everyday lives. If we want a care and support system raised to the standards we would all expect, then substantial additional funding cannot be avoided. Hard choices need to be made about who pays, but we cannot afford for decisions to be postponed as too costly or too controversial.

Unless you’ve been through the social care system it is difficult to understand how urgently it needs reform. If you need medical treatment, the NHS provides wherever you live. But different councils provide different levels of care services, and the state only pays for the care of people with the lowest levels of income or savings. If you have savings, income or a home worth more than £23,250, the costs of care in your own home or in residential care can be catastrophic.

The current system means that someone with dementia and their family could end up having to pay over £100,000 for the costs of care. Disabled people who want to live independently face a lifetime of huge bills to get basic support. Carers caring round the clock for loved-ones are forced to pay hundreds of pounds to get a few hours rest.

This is not simply a question of a societal duty to a small group of the vulnerable. Every family in this country will be affected by ageing, illness and disability. We all need a care and support system which protects families from catastrophic care costs, ends the postcode lottery in care and delivers fairness, dignity and independence.”

 Signed:                                         

National Council for Palliative care – Spiritual care

The UK  National Council for Palliative Care   promotes good end of life care for all who need it . Palliative care i.e.  care for people with a life-limiting condition or who are nearing the end of life includes spiritual care. However, it means different things to different people.

We’re gathering views on this subject and would like to pose two questions for you to consider and let us know your thoughts:

What does spiritual care mean to you?

What would you expect from spiritual care if you, or someone close to you, were ill or at the end of life?

If anyone has a view on this please send email to Jo Black. Jo is Involvement Manager at the National Council for Palliative Care

contact details :    j.black@ncpc.org.uk

Fawcett launches legal challenge to government budget

The Fawcett Society has filed papers with the High Court seeking a Judicial Review of the government’s recent emergency budget. (1)

Under equality laws, we believe the government should have assessed whether its budget proposals would increase or reduce inequality between women and men. Despite repeated requests, the Treasury have not provided any evidence that any such an assessment took place. (2)

see in full here

Refreshing the national Carers Strategy

Letter from the Minister for Care Services seeking views, by 20 September 2010, on the key priorities, supported by evidence of good practice, on what will have the greatest impact on improving carers’ lives in the next four years. see here

Template for responses can be found on the above link too.

Family carers are a necessity

Update 4th July 2010 – still no response, not even acknowledgement.

The silence from Coalition Government and DWP Ministers has been deafening. What are they planning re : #carers benefits?   

What are they hiding ?

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Reports daily from the media announce cuts to Social Care across the country. With Local Authorities needing to make savings in their budgets, this will place added pressure on many family carers, carers who are already struggling to cope.

The Coalition government announced the establishment of a new independent commission  to advise the Government on the future funding of long-term care.  As the government work towards solutions to the increasing problems faced , Carer Watch trust they will also address the issues surrounding carers. In many cases they are the frontline in providing Social Care, they provide the foundation that all else must build from.

Many carers are unable to continue in or take up employment due to the amount of care they are required to provide. Future funding for care cannot and must not be looked at in isolation away from these carers.

On 2nd June 2010,  Carer Watch called on the government to make a statement regarding their intentions re Carers Allowance. To date there has been no response from them.

Well done Laura Sandys

Last night Laura Sandys, who won the Kent seat of Thanet South at the general election delivered her maiden speech in the Commons.

At the start of Carers’ Week, she took the opportunity to highlight the importance of government supporting those who selflessly care for relatives..

see full article here

Carers need immediate statement from coalition Government

Since the new coalition came to power there has been much noise made about their new programme for government and now Welfare reform. Yet one group of people overlooked is family carers. There has been no details forthcoming which outlines the governments plans for Carer Benefits’.

Spanning many years there has been report after report, suggestions made by think tanks, select committees, consultations, Big Care Debate, green/white papers for Welfare Reform and reform of Social Care. And yet….Carers are still waiting

A few examples ..

July 2007
Breakthrough Britain

Family carers are undervalued in our society and receive a disproportionately low level of financial support given the many hours of work that they do.

Carers of elderly and disabled people are not adequately resourced or recognize for the work they do.

April 2008
Carerwatch Submission to the Work and Pensions Select Committee Enquiry into the Government’s Carers’ Strategy

August 2008
Give family carers £110 a week wages, MPs demand

Nov 2008
No 10 e petition re proposals of carers moving to JSA

Carers UK campaigns page

PRTC 5 election asks for carers

The list could go on but we think the message these few examples give is loud and clear.

Carer Watch ask that the new coalition govt, along with DWP Secretary of State for Works and Pensions Iain Duncan Smith, give a statement regarding their intentions re Carers Benefits.

Carers have accepted their responsibilites, when will the government accept theirs?

Maria Miller – new minister for Disabled people

Maria Miller’s Parliamentary assistant confirmed today that she had been appointed to the post of minister for disabled people. Although Number 10, tasked with making ministerial announcements, will not confirm this it did confirm last week that she has a role as an under secretary of state within the Department of Work and Pensions.

Miller, Conservative MP for Basingstoke, was previously the shadow minister for family while in opposition. She has been an MP since 2005.

see here

Care system’s last days

While none of the big three parties have the answers, it is clear that massive change is ahead for the adult social care system.

Hopes that social care would be a big election issue seem to have faded. But it now looks even more likely that social care funding will be one of the big post-election problems that any new government will have to sort out. Worryingly, there still seem to be big questions for all major parties to answer about social care if they are to carry conviction

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Read full article by Peter Beresford , professor of social work at Brunel University and chair of service user organisation Shaping Our Lives

Guest blog – Benefits and Work

Carer Watch would like to thank Steve at Benefits and Work for inviting us to be a guest on their blog site.

The article we submitted can be read here . Please add your own comments too.