Another scandal for care system

9:00am Saturday 24th November 2012 in Opinion

DO you sometimes wonder what is going on in this country’s health and care services?

Barely a day goes by, or so it seems, without some fresh scandal crashing or a damning report being released on some aspect of the £100 billion a year NHS or a local authority. Today, for example we report on the worryingly high number of complaints being lodged over adult social care with the local councils responsible for that provision, Bournemouth, Poole and Dorset. Now the Care Quality Commission says that nationally, almost a third of care homes are failing on basic standards of care.

Now that is a scandal. Successive governments, including this one, have failed to come up with a viable plan for a care system that is facing a demographic timebomb and that cannot make ends meet. Fights over our Euro rebate and green energy are all very well. But politicians need to get their priorities right.

Comments(6)

rayc says...
12:15pm Sun 25 Nov 12

The vast majority of carers both in Nursing Homes and home visiting are doing a great job well above their remuneration packages. My Daughter was a home visitor carer and her conditions of employment were terrible. She had to provide her own car at a miserly mileage rate and couldn't claim for the first and last visit of the day, which somehow always seemed to involve the longest journey.
The whole system only continues due to the dedication of these people, who provide good care in spite of their employers not because of them.

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Square Old Codger says...
12:16pm Sun 25 Nov 12

Strange that there's no mention of the Private Sector in the article. The case at Bristol and the majority of Care Homes and Nursing Homes mentioned in the reports are from that sector. As with the NHS it's money, staffing levels cut, work load increases and the staff poorly motivated and badly paid. Management brief is to work within the budget and of course standards slip - there just isn't time for example 2 Nurses/Aides on a Ward to feed 20 plus patients and what if an emergency situation occurs. The fact is the this is a labour intensive area of work, labour is expensive and the private sector expects to make a profit and the price that National and Local Government is prepared to pay is reduced.Given the mismanagement of our ecomony, the likelyhood is that it will be several years before there is any, let alone significant growth - less nor more money will be given to this sector. .

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s-pb2 says...
12:51am Mon 26 Nov 12

Care services do vary from the excellent to very poor, and things will not be getting any better in the forseeable future as both national and local government do not see this as a priority despite is being one of the biggest areas of work in the country. Three years of frozen council tax bills means that funds available for adult social care will continue to reduce

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rogerlu says...
11:58am Mon 26 Nov 12

Hopefully the people who do not believe the LGO is effective will be surprised when the reports are published

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portia6 says...
11:52pm Tue 27 Nov 12

Nurses who look after the elderly work
extremely hard, I have worked in
care homes and hospitals and the
level of care has been exemplary.
There is always room for improvement
and since the 70's I think most of
the care homes are better.

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portia6 says...
11:52pm Tue 27 Nov 12

Nurses who look after the elderly work
extremely hard, I have worked in
care homes and hospitals and the
level of care has been exemplary.
There is always room for improvement
and since the 70's I think most of
the care homes are better.

Report this post »

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