Care scandal as 900,000 pensioners left to cope alone
ALMOST a million pensioners are being deprived of the social care they need, says a leading charity.
The state-funded system is in “calamitous, quite rapid decline”, its director claims.
Age UK says the amount spent on social care services has fallen nationally by £1.1billion since 2010/11, despite additional funding from the NHS.
It claims that in 2005/6 1.2 million people aged over 65 received social care, but now the total is just 849,280.
The 40 per cent drop is despite the fact that the number of elderly people has soared by 15.6 per cent or 1.2 million.
The cutbacks mean there are 900,000 pensioners between 65 and 89 who need help but are not getting it.
Age UK director Caroline Abrahams said: “This devastating scorecard speaks for itself and it lays bare the fact that our state-funded social care system is in calamitous, quite rapid decline.
"Services like meals on wheels and day care are being especially hard hit, storing up big problems for the future.
“Hundreds of thousands who need social care are being left high and dry.
"Lucky ones have funds to buy in some support, or can rely on the goodwill of family and friends.
Hundreds of thousands who need social care are being left high and dry
"But there are many who are left to struggle on alone.”
The charity’s figures show that between 2010/11 and 2013/14 the number of older people receiving home care fell from 542,965 to 370,630 and day care places plummeted from 178,700 to 59,125.
The number offered vital equipment and adaptations to help them remain safely at home has dropped 41.6 per cent and those getting meals on wheels have plunged by 63.7 per cent from 81,460 to 29,560.
Money spent on home care has dropped since 2010/11 by £277million while investment in day care has fallen even more dramatically by 30 per cent – a cut of £114million.
Of the hundreds of thousands of older people left without care help, nearly a third have difficulty in carrying out essential activities of daily life like washing, using the lavatory and feeding themselves, says Age UK.
A Department of Health spokesman said: “We’ve given an extra £1.1billion to councils to help protect social care services this year but ultimately they are responsible for deciding how to spend their budgets.
“Our Care Act and £5.3billion Better Care Fund will focus resources on helping people to live independently, which will save money and reduce unnecessary hospital admissions.”
Warwickshire County Councillor Izzi Seccombe, chairman of the Local Government Association’s Community Wellbeing Board, said: “Councils have protected our most vulnerable people as far as possible, often at the expense of other services, and we will continue to prioritise those most in need.”
