Statistics Show Change In Delivery Of Community Care

More people are receiving help to live independently in their own homes, with fewer admitted to local authority-funded residential care, according to statistics released last month by the Information Centre for health and social care (IC).

In March 2006 there were 256,900 permanent and temporary supported residents in supported care — 3% less than the previous year. Some councils attributed the decrease to a national policy to provide people with the support to enable them to remain at home.

This analysis was supported by recent IC statistics, published in its recent Home Care Services report (March 2006), showing that the number of homecare hours received had risen by 6% from the previous year to an estimated 3.6 million.