Councils must bail-out failing care homes warns ADSS

Councils must prepare to bail-out failing care homes as the recession deepens, the incoming president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services has warned.

Speaking at the association’s annual spring seminar, ADASS president Jenny Owen warned local authorities might be called on to help some care home proprietors through the recession, as ‘housing repossessions and homelessness increase, unemployment rises beyond two million increasing benefits takeup, poverty, and more demand for publicly funded services.’

She also brought up the elephant in the room – the question of how social care will be funded during the downturn.

She said: ‘The capacity of charities to respond could be adversely affected by reduced donations, and there could be less income coming in to social care budgets from charging. Revenue budgets may have significant pressures on them as this starts to take effect.’

She also called for;
* better partnership working between councils and PCTs on the efficiency agenda
* abolish the institutional ageism that ‘pervades’ the health and social care system
* a better understanding of the universal offer
* a robust framework for safeguarding