Care services ”are at their breaking point”

Care services for adults and the elderly are at breaking point, various bodies have said in an open letter to the leaders of the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

The letter follows recent revelations that elderly patients in NHS hospitals were not being fed properly or given enough to drink and residents in care homes have been treated badly and some even abused.

The letter said that without urgent reform – which the previous government stopped short of following its own review – care services would go beyond their current breaking point status. And this would have a disastrous effect on public services as a whole. Signatories included Care UK, Bupa Care Services, the Local Government Association, Age UK and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

“For over a decade, governments of all colours have struggled to agree an answer. But delay is no longer an option,” they wrote. “Increased pressure on public finances is pushing an already over-burdened system to breaking point. Without integration between health and social care services, this picture could worsen. It is frail, older people who will suffer unless the issue is resolved.”

As we reported last week, the Dilnot Commission is said to be considering recommending that future care is paid for through a combination of increased Treasury funding and compulsory private insurance schemes for those currently in work.

Michelle Mitchell, charity director of Age UK, commented: “This overburdened system is at breaking point. We are looking forward to working with all political parties to ensure the recommendations made by Andrew Dilnot are acted upon.”

And the Local Government Association’s David Rogers said: “Anyone who works in adult social care knows the current system is not fit for the 21st century. The government must step up and start working towards a reformed system.”