BASW demands fairer funding for social care in England

BASW has renewed calls for a fairer distribution of cash between health and social care so that more money is invested in improving care for older people living at home.

It follows the publication of interim findings from an inquiry into care by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) which says older people’s human rights are often breached by sub-standard care.

The report found instances of people being put to bed at 5pm, with widespread examples of inadequate time to provide care – often carers had just 15 minutes to meet a person’s care needs meaning that older people were forced to choose between a cooked meal and a wash.

It also found that high staff turnover meant many older people had a succession of people coming into their homes to wash and them, changes in personnel which often affected them emotionally.

BASW England manager Ruth Cartwright said the report added weight to the Association’s repeated calls for better social care funding: “We call yet again on the government to consider a redistribution of finance between health and social care.

“Social care has saved the NHS many millions of pounds over recent years in enabling people to remain at home, in avoiding or shortening hospital admissions, and in undertaking work that previously would have been done by community nurses or in hospital. This money needs to come back to social care and be spent on improving our home care services so restoring quality of life to older people across the nation.

“In the wake of the abuse exposed by Panorama at Winterbourne View and the financial instability of Southern Cross, we do not look like a nation that exercises a great deal of care for our older people, which is unacceptable,” she added.