A new report by The King’s Fund and the Nuffield Trust shows a social care system unable to meet the needs of the older people who depend on it.
The report Social care for older people: Home truths finds that the care and support you get depends on how much money you have and where you live rather than the actual support you need.
In addition, cuts to local authority budgets, rising demand for services and shortages of staff have placed an increased burden on unpaid carers.
Rising numbers of older people who have difficulty with the basic activities of daily living – such as washing, dressing and getting out of bed – without any support at all.
The future of social care for older people
“The conclusions we draw from national data and evidence, our work with the four local authorities and their partners with very different circumstances, and the messages from older people and their carers are unequivocal. The social care system is on the brink. Although local authorities have absorbed a reduction of more than £5 billion in social care budgets over the past five years, at least 26 per cent fewer older people are getting help, unmet need appears to be increasing and more is being expected of unpaid carers. The needs and circumstances of older people who are no longer eligible for publicly funded care are poorly understood.”
“It is clear also that the challenges facing social care are now as much about workforce as they are about money. The availability and quality of care is threatened by mounting problems in staff recruitment and retention, underpinned by a culture of low pay and under-investment in training, and by the reliance in many areas on migrant workers.”
Based on the evidence in the report, the authors recommend that policy-makers need to address three major challenges in shaping the development of social care over the next five years, focusing on how to:
- achieve more with fewer resources – for example, through better commissioning and integrated care – recognising that these initiatives will not be enough to close the funding gap
- establish a more explicit policy framework, which makes it clear that primary responsibility for funding care sits with individuals and families
- reform the long-term funding of social care because reliance on additional private funding is unlikely to be sufficient or equitable.
The report noted
“In all areas interviewees spoke of the need for better self-management by users and greater involvement from families and the wider community in the provision of care for those in need.”
In her blog, We need a new vision for independent living, DR UK Deputy CEO Sue Bott said:
"There is much to commend what Simon Stevens, long time disabled activist, has to say in his recently posted discussion paper. He says what we need is a single integrated system that would assess people’s needs and allocate assistance and support based on the outcomes people could achieve in their communities and contribute to society. www.simonstevens.com/achievesupport
“It makes sense to reduce the number of funding streams that disabled people have to access or, at the very least, get them working together so that disabled people have everything in the one budget as has proved to be so successful in the Right to Control trailblazer areas.
Another important feature of this vision must be peer support – disabled people advising and supporting other disabled people through the benefit of shared experience. For this to happen we need a strong network of our organisations.
A new vision must be underpinned by co-production - disabled people involved throughout as equal partners in initiating ideas, designing and delivering ways to meet our support needs and deciding how much progress has been made to realising independent living.
Above all I think a new vision needs to be inclusive of all disabled people, impairments and experiences. It is the statutory agencies that pigeon hole us into different groups and encourage us to fight over the crumbs of an ever dwindling cake. We don’t have to that. We can unite around a vision applicable to all.”
For ways in which Disability Rights UK is working towards this aim see our vision, mission, priorities and strategic plan