Tag Archives: Care in Crisis

Who would care for my Mum? Or for yours?

Posted on May 14, 2013 by Age UK | 1 Comment

Imagine that one day your Mum is at home enjoying her retirement. She has always been highly independent, fit and well. Until the day she has a stroke.

After a short stay in hospital she comes home. But life is different now. It’s much harder for her to do everyday things. She struggles getting in and out of the bath and even using the shower is a challenge. There are times when reaching the toilet is too much. You have to face the fact that she cannot manage on her own any more.

You do the most sensible thing. You get in touch with Mum’s local social services. You explain the difficulties she is now having. They assess her needs. You hope this leads to some carers coming in to give Mum a hand with those things she is finding too much, like getting to the toilet, washing and preparing simple meals.

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Posted in Campaigning, Care in Crisis

Tagged #carecantwait, #careincrisis, Age UK, Age UK blog, Ageing, ageing society, campaigning, Care Bill, Care in Crisis, Care in Crisis campaign, Government, Health & wellbeing, Health and Social Care, Later life, Lobby a Lord, Local government, older people, social care, Social Care Bill, social care reform, who would care for my mum?

Queen announces landmark legislation for older people

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Age UK | 23 Comments

We have repeatedly called for improvements to the pensions system and for urgent changes to the shambles that passes for our system of social care and today in the Queen’s Speech two of our proverbial buses arrived at once. The speech contained two pieces of landmark legislation: A Bill to simplify the legislative framework and funding of social care, and a Bill introducing a flat rate State Pension. Both these measures are very much welcomed by Age UK.

Improving the care and support system in England is long overdue. The complexity of the legal framework, the raft of regulations to plug gaps and the confusion many people experience when trying to navigate the existing care system tells us that care and support need reform. The Care Bill is a vital part of the changes that are necessary. However the current and future funding of adult social care is likely to be the elephant in the room throughout the progress of this Bill. Social care funding has declined by £710 million in real terms since the Government came to power in 2010. This is at the same time as the population of over 85, who are most likely to need social care, continues to rise. Budgets are falling while demand is rising. Continue reading →

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Posted in Government, Home and Care, Income, Money Matters, Public Policy, Queen's Speech, Social care

Tagged #carecantwait, #careincrisis, Age UK, Age UK blog, Ageing, ageing population, ageing society, Care and Support Bill, Care Bill, Care in Crisis, Care in Crisis campaign, Draft Care and Support Bill, draft Pensions Bill, Government, Home and Care, Incomes, money matters, National Employment Savings Trust, NEST, older people, pensioner poverty, pensions, Pensions Bill, pensions reform, Queen's Speech, Single-tier pension, social care

Joint Committee reports on Draft Care and Support Bill

Posted on March 19, 2013 by Stephen Lowe | 2 Comments

The Joint Committee on the Draft Care and Support Bill has completed its scrutiny of the draft bill, and published a report and recommendations. The committee is supportive of much of the bill, but suggests that further measures to promote preventative services and early intervention, and to promote integration between local authority social care, housing services and the NHS, could be included.

The committee also argues that the government has underestimated the cost of implementing the proposals contained in the bill. In launching the report, the committee’s chair, Paul Burstow, argued that “The government must take stock of its funding for adult care and support and think seriously about whether the transformation we all want to see can truly be delivered without greater resources’. Age UK has similarly called for the government’s forthcoming spending review to make provision for funding a fair and dependable care system.

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Posted in Home and Care, Social care

Tagged older people, Age UK, social care, Dilnot Commission, ageing society, Care in Crisis, Ageing, Care in Crisis campaign, #careincrisis, #carecantwait, Age UK blog, #Dilnot, Joint Committee on the Draft Care and Support Bill, Draft Care and Support Bill

Older women and care: are they invisible to the sisterhood?

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Michelle Mitchell | 4 Comments

This blog is an edited version of an article appearing in the International Longevity Centre’s Compendium on Older Women, published for International Women’s Day.

As women, we outlive men in nearly all parts of the world, outnumbering our male counterparts across the globe by 100 million. But though we live longer than men and are stronger in number, we are also likely to spend more years in poor health.

This is reflected in the gender profile of users of health and social care. Across OECD countries ¾ of long-term care users are women. Older women are therefore disproportionately affected by inadequacies of care and support.

Paradoxically, though, older women are also the main providers of care. Across OECD countries 2/3 of informal carers aged 50+ are female. In developing countries, in addition to informal care, a significant amount of the care older women provide is as a grandparent to children whose parents have migrated or have been killed by HIV/AIDS or conflict. Continue reading →