Adult day care centre provision in the community.

There is a huge shift in the way social care is delivered with emphasis on keeping people at home for as long as possible. This shift away from placing people in care homes is likely to have a considerable impact on privately  run care  homes who may find that their bed occupancy rates fall as a result.   Whilst I support people's choice to remain at home the reality for most people and their families is that the resources in the community are poor with very limited choice open to them particularly in rural areas putting added strain on the cared for person and their families.

For people living at home and their carer's the right care and support is crucial. Good quality day care and short stay care (respite) are two service's which help to support people at home.  Personal budgets goes some way in addressing this by allowing budget holders to manager their decisions, their services and their finances and enables them to access the right kind of support.

Day centres in some parts of the country have seen a significant drop in referral rates from Social Services with attendance levels at an all time low. Day centre managers depend on a high attendance rates to make the centres financially viable and many are unable to cover the cost of a person attending for day care.  In order to continue to operate many charitable organizations need to carry our fund raising activities to ensure the success of their care provision and to balance their books.   The benefits of attending a club or day centre are far reaching with the evidence suggesting that when a person feels part of their community and valued they are less likely to suffer from depression and feel socially isolated.  In addition and equally important it gives carer's a well earned break and therefore helps reduce the likelihood of carer breakdown or stress.

Day centre providers such as Age Concern and Age UK need to be supported by Social Services and the communities they serve to ensure their continued success, they offer an excellent service and are highly valued by the people they serve.

Loss of confidence in the care home sector

The care home industry has over the past six months been plagued by bad press effecting the public’s view of the care home sector.  This is knocking people’s confidence and in one recent news report some families are looking after their elderly parents rather than put them into a care home.   I think that the success of  someone remaining at home depends to a large extent on the nature and degree of the condition of the cared for person and the amount of support they need.   Even with a good care package the home situation  can become so difficult  and problematic that a move into care becomes necessary. 

One of the main difficulties for people and their carer's is accessing services and getting a social care assessment. Due to restructuring and cut backs in the public sector it is much harder to get social services on board and with resources at breaking point; getting an assessment particularly a face to face one is becoming much more difficult.  Social Services have a strict criteria with a tendency to only become involved if the person needing care has under a certain amount of money which is currently set at £23,500 or has high or critical needs for instance when facing a crisis.  Many elderly people especially those living with dementia can have extremely complex needs and specialist care and support is paramount.

The current system in England is unfair and inequitable with our older generation being marginalized.  The government is looking at ways to make the system fairer for people and as far as I am concerned  the sooner the better.