Press Release
Comment on the BUPA 'Who Cares' report
24 February 2011
Commenting on the Bupa 'Who Cares' report, Andrew Harrop, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at Age UK, said:
'We are increasingly worried at the mounting evidence across the country that the spending cuts are hitting social care budgets hard. This will have a devastating effect on vulnerable older people. Every local authority must spend the money that was put in the settlements grants for social care as intended and not use it to prop up the budgets in other areas.
'Underfunding on social care makes absolutely no financial sense. Failing to provide adequate support to help older people live safely and healthily creates costly and avoidable emergency hospital admissions.
'A hospital bed costs the NHS between £250 and £300 a day, whereas the average cost of residential care is just under £500 a week with nursing homes costing around £700 a week. The average cost of social care provided at home is around £200 a week.'
Article Comments
Agree entirely with Mr Harrop. The Bupa report fails to cover in detail the need to prevent people from going into care homes and hospitals in the first place. In view of the challenges ahead there has perhaps never been a greater need for the early intervention and prevention agenda to kick in, by providing more care in the community. There are potentially huge cost avoidances to be achieved by focussing more on proactive care, as opposed to funding the problem after it has happened. We at Community Equipment Solutions Ltd. recently took part in the Dilnot review (Commission on Funding Care and Support) on options for funding adult social care; in our contribution we highlighted these issues in particular.
NHS Confederation deputy policy director, Jo Webber, has acknowledged this point also and stated: 'It is a false economy to allow more, often the most vulnerable, patients to end up in hospital rather than providing the right support where they need it most, in their communities.'
We believe the strategic role of community equipment is starting to find its way on to the health and social care agenda. We also believe that the forthcoming Standards being developed for the community equipment industry will be an essential tool in enabling commissioners and providers to plan and manage services effectively. Providing care in the home with the right equipment is essential in the light of the difficulties ahead.
Brian Donnelly
Director
Community Equipment Solutions Ltd.
Brian Donnelly
25th Feb 2011 at 10:58 am
Press releases, papers and documents published on this page are the intellectual property of an organisation unrelated to ePolitix.com. We promote their parliamentary and political campaigning activities as they are subscribers to the ePolitix.com service.
As such, ePolitix.com does not edit, endorse, or attempt to balance the opinions expressed on this page. The content of press releases and other such types of content are the responsibility of the originating organisation.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.