Adult Care - The Ticking Time Bomb

THIS COULD SERIOUSLY AFFECT YOUR PARENTS  OR EVEN YOU  NOW OR IN THE FUTURE

It may seem strange that I should highlight the issue of Adult Care in my Campaign.

Campaigns however, need to address matters which are looming on the horizon, particularly where the consequences are so significant for Local Government finances.

Adult Care is one of these.

Adult care can take many forms. I think that there is a general consensus that where an ageing person can, with support, continue to live independently, albeit in their own home or one of the many Independent Living complexes, then this is the best solution all round.

There may come a time when Independent Living is no longer possible and Care must be administered in a Care Home and perhaps later even in a Nursing Home.

Wherever the care is provided, it comes at a cost.

Some ‘Clients’ (what a horrible word) finance their own care and are known as Self -Funders. Others, because of their financial circumstances, are funded by the Local Authority.

On average the cost of Self-Funding is £35,000 per year and for Local Authority funded it is £25,000 a year.

Generally, Local Authorities contract out Local Authority funded care to a myriad of Care Providers.

These Care Providers depend on cross-subsidy between the Self Funders and the LA funded to balance their books.

All Care is funded in 15 minute ‘chunks’

In relation to care in Clients own homes, Care Providers employ Care Workers, many  on zero hours contracts. These Care Workers get paid for the time spent in Clients homes, be it 15 minutes or multiples thereof.

They do NOT receive pay for time traveling between Clients homes and, if they use their own car, they do NOT receive travel allowances.

As a result, they are effectively being paid less than the Minimum Wage

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Let’s look at some figures for Bolton.

At the end of 2013 there were 4,339 people in receipt of Adult care financed by the Council

Of these, 1,669 were receiving care in their own homes

Bolton Council had contracts with 252 Private Providers to provide this care.

In common with all communities across the country, the population of Bolton is ageing and so, as time goes on, the proportion of people needing to receive care will necessarily increase.

In 2012 – 2013, Bolton Council’s Adult care Budget was £62.5 million.

For each of the years 2013-4 and 2014-5 this will be reduced to £59 million

So – Demand is going to Increase and the Budget is going to Decrease.

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But that is only the start of it.

This is a letter I wrote to the Bolton News on 29^th January which summarises further changes to the financing of adult care which are in the pipeline. These changes will make the financial situation worse.

(This is the unedited version of the letter.)

“A Pending Crisis in Home Care

Dear Sir,

In June of last year you published a letter from me on the subject of Homecare for Adults which concentrated on the inadequacy of 15 minute visits and the iniquity of effectively paying Careworkers less than the minimum wage.

In October Councillor Andy Morgan addressed the same subject and suggested a minimum visit time of 25 minutes.

In her response, Councillor Linda Thomas seemed not to understand what the problem was and defended the Council and the status quo.

Since then, I have received a letter on the subject from the Care Minister, Norman Lamb, the Department of Health has conducted a survey on Homecare and the new Care Bill is currently at the Committee stage in the House of Commons. 

In his letter, Norman Lamb states:- .  

“Ministers know that there are practices in the home care sector that cannot be allowed to continue. These include:

-     Care by the clock, whereby care workers can have as little as 15 minutes to provide care to someone.  All too often, this results in rushed, poor quality care or even missed visits. Users of services can be left waiting to get into or out of bed, to get washed, to eat and drink or take their medication, whilst care workers can become stressed and demotivated;

-     Abuse of minimum wage laws, so care workers earn less than the National Minimum Wage due to their not being paid for travel time between calls; and

-     A constant turnover of care workers, meaning users of services can find themselves receiving intimate care from a stranger.  New staff may not always be aware of an older or disabled person’s needs.”

The Department of Health survey shows (amongst other things) that 49% of Homecare Providers do not think that Councils have a positive influence on the quality of homecare provided.

At the moment the average cost of Local Authority funded care is £25,000 per year. A Self-Funder would typically pay £35,000. The cross subsidy allows Care Providers to balance their books.

However, the Care Bill introduces three separate changes relating to funding of homecare.

Without boring you with the details, the Social Care Network concludes that the consequences of these changes could be :-

• Catastrophic sudden financial failures of care homes

• Voluntary withdrawals from the market leading to less choice and competition

• More care providers accepting only self-funders

• Downward pressure on pay for carers

• Reduced staffing levels

• A lowering of standards and quality of the care provided

• Clinical risks

Adding all this up, one can conclude that  a perfect financial storm is about to hit the Adult Services Dept of the Town Hall and thus perhaps Councillor Thomas should brush up on the subject and be a little less complacent.

Paul Richardson, Ripon Close, Little Lever “

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Conclusion

Supposing the Government were to stipulate that in future the minimum visit period was to be 30 minutes instead of 15. Further to this supposing the Government were to stipulate that Home Care Workers had to be paid for Travelling Time.

This could in certain cases DOUBLE the cost of Home Care.

Together with increased Demand and reducing Budgets, there can only be one result – Care would have to be RATIONED which would mean that your relation (or even yourself) might not even be able to access Care which was needed.

This is a ticking time bomb which could directly affect you.

Judging from Councillor Thomas’ statements, Bolton Council appear to be in denial of this and I will campaign vigorously for this issue to be given maximum publicity both inside and outside the Town Hall

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Promoted by Edith D Sexton, 69 Chester Ave, BL3 1XE on behalf of  Paul Richardson, 24 Ripon Close BL3 1EQ