Care for elderly ‘close to collapse’ across UK as council funding runs out

Theresa May under pressure as doctors urge funding U-turn and cross-party alliance warns millions of people are at risk




Theresa May is under intense pressure from senior doctors and a powerful cross-party alliance of politicians to avert a collapse in care for the elderly, as shocking new figures show the system close to meltdown.

The medical profession, together with Tory, Labour and Liberal Democrat leaders in local government, have demanded a funding U-turn, warning that the safety of millions of elderly people is at risk because of an acute financial crisis completely overlooked in chancellor Philip Hammond’s autumn statement.
New figures obtained by the Observer show that 77 of the 152 local authorities responsible for providing care for the elderly have seen at least one residential and nursing care provider close in the last six months, because cuts to council budgets meant there were insufficient funds to run adequate services.
In 48 councils, at least one company that provides care for the elderly in their own homes has ceased trading over the same period, placing councils under sudden and huge pressure to find alternative provision.
In addition, 59 councils have had to find new care arrangements after contracts were handed back by a provider who decided that they were unable to make ends meet on the money that councils were able to pay them.
The medical profession, council leaders and even the former Tory health secretary, Andrew Lansley, are appalled that the social care crisis – exacerbated by growing numbers of elderly people and the rising costs of paying staff – was not addressed in the autumn statement.
In a letter to the Observer, the leaders of the four main political groups in local government expressed their disquiet at the chancellor’s dismissing talk of a crisis despite calls from politicians, NHS leaders, doctors and others.

“The fact the government appears to have chosen not to act will lower the quality of life for our elderly and vulnerable residents,” they said.

The cross-party group adds that, without an urgent injection of extra money to fund a £2.6bn funding gap, “the quality and safety of care of our elderly is at risk and the vulnerable will increasingly struggle to receive the help they need to meet basic needs such as washing, dressing or getting out of bed”.
They added that May cannot claim to be governing for everyone if she fails to act to help the elderly and most vulnerable: “The social care crisis is real and it is happening right now. The government cannot ignore it any longer if we are to truly have a society that works for everyone.”
Providers of social care say they have been squeezed by a combination of cuts to local authority funds provided by central government and their own rising costs, particularly as a result of the introduction of the national living wage.
Separately, the president of the Royal College of Surgeons, Clare Marx, told the Observer that the failure to provide adequate care in the home means elderly people are ending up stuck in hospitals, putting huge strain on their finances at a time when government is also demanding large efficiency savings. The logjam means operations for other patients have to be cancelled, causing further added bills to the NHS.

More at:


https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/nov/26/nhs-elderly-care-close-to-collapse






That's you parents/grandparents they are talking about, and you, when you become ill and the beds are blocked because there is nowhere for the old to go when they get better from an illness but can't look after themselves.

ONCE AGAIN a "trickle down"/ supply side oriented conservative minded government screwing over the elderly, the disabled, the unemployed -- the most vulnerable sectors of any community --  with their faux "welfare bad"/"corporate tax cuts good !" austerity cuts.

Pushing the tired and long_disproven Reaganomics/Thatecherisms philosophy on behalf of their greedy "free market" bosses.

And they always have their 4 or 5 fascist minded sheeple on here, forever attempting to shift the blame away from the financiers and the bosses, and on to the poor, the "immigrants" and the dispossed..

"The true value of any society is demonstrated by how they treat their most vulnerable members..", and many societies are failing badly at the moment;  all in the name of ever-increasing profits and lower taxes, often hiding behind claims of a false "patriotism" ...        

We have just had an Autumn Statement and this problem was not even acknowledged in it.   It's a bloody disgrace.

I think our elderly are often overlooked and that's disgusting because we all grow old eventually.

OUR elderly are OVERLOOKED BECAUSE we allow it.

We cannot afford all the forunuz, when will you understand???????????

Those of you who flag wave for all the scrounging forun rubbish to invade our island are in effect condemning our OWN old folk to poverty.

Open thine eyes.

There are none so blind as those who will not see.

I have been through Brum again today, if you had been with me you would actually have been educated in FACT