Care for older people ‘under-funded and under-staffed’
London’s care services for older people are under-funded and under-staffed, according to a report published today.
A year-long investigation by the King’s Fund shows that the capital’s care system offers little choice or quality.
Older people and their carers are experiencing limited access to care and support, restricted choice and control over care services, and are being put at risk by untrained and unqualified staff.
They are also experiencing hardship as a result of inadequate funding and controversy over who pays for long-term care.
The King’s Fund wants Ministers to review their decision not to increase funding for adult social care and older people.
It says the Government’s aim of empowering older people through the use of direct payments and individual budgets will not be successful unless the “poorly developed” care market is improved, and there are enough of the right kinds of services that people want to buy.
“We believe that unless there is serious investment in developing the care market to offer the quality and diversity of services people rightly expect, then older people won’t be able to exercise their consumer power to get the right care for them,” said Julia Unwin who chaired the investigation.
“The Government has outlined its vision for the future of social care in its recent green paper, but we are not convinced that existing funding levels will deliver this ambitious agenda.”
Sandra Gidley, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for older people, said London’s problems were “echoed across the country”.
She added: “It is all very well for Ministers to trumpet their policy of choice in the NHS, but this inquiry makes clear that many vulnerable and sick older people are not only being denied choice, they are being put at risk and receiving inadequate care. A measure of a civilised society is how it treats its older people. This report demonstrates that our society is failing.”
The King’s Fund report makes 30 recommendations for improving care services, including investing in the care market to improve the quality and diversity of services and creating a culture that focuses on the rights of older people as well as their needs.
It also wants to see shortages in services for older people from black and ethnic minority communities and for older people with mental health problems improved.
King’s Fund chief executive Niall Dickinson said: “This is a story of a market that is failing and needs to be improved in many ways, it is the story of a neglected area of our national life with muddled policy and what looks like inadequate resources. If we got it right more older people could lead independent lives and exercise the choice and control we all desire.”
Ms Gidley added: “The Liberal Democrats have called for Ministers to institute a long term review of social care funding. They have failed to do so. It is essential that the Government takes heed of the King’s Fund’s own review in order to deliver quality services for older people now and in the future.”
The King’s Fund report is based on evidence gathered from hundreds of older people and their carers, as well as care staff and managers, regulators and local authority and NHS commissioners.
