Parkinson’s disease charity criticises home care cuts

Council plans to cut home care assistance for people with Parkinson’s disease is not displaying the government’s commitment to social care, it is claimed.

A leading Parkinson’s disease charity has expressed grave concerns over the effect that public sector cuts could have on social care for older people.

In a report from the Local Government Association, it was revealed last week that “virtually all” local authorities would be making heavy cuts to their home help support services for older and disabled people, in light of tighter budgets from central government.

Parkinson’s UK social policy and campaigns manager Anjuli Veall said that councils are painting a bleak picture for people living with the disease.

Ms Veall says that all publically-funded institutions must work together to work out how they can help as many people as possible with the funds they have.

“We urge the government to look again at the scale of council cuts and the impact this will have on these vital services, otherwise its vision for social care will be meaningless rhetoric,” she said.