“Failing system of social care” warn two leading organisations for the elderly

There are grave consequences ahead for the health and wellbeing of older people warn Age UK and the British Geriatrics Society. They say a failing system of social care will also lead to increased costs to the NHS in England and that recent reports demonstrate the human cost of the crisis with “chronically under-funded social care services jeopardising older people’s health, dignity and wellbeing”.

Age UK and British Geriatrics society have joined forces and put together a briefing titled: “The impact of under-funding of social care on older patients and cost implications to the NHS in England.” They believe that appropriate social care funding would enable more “vulnerable, older people to stay healthy and independent for longer, reducing the cost of hospital admissions, hospital stays and delayed discharge.”

Age UK and British Geriatrics Society believe that the Government now has a “once in a generation opportunity to reform social care.” They want to see quality of care improved, ensuring it is available and accessible to those who need it, preventing the downward spiral of ill health in late old age.

Ian Donald, consultant geriatrician and social care chair of the British Geriatrics Society said: “As a specialist for older people’s health working on an acute elderly care ward in a District General Hospital, I see around 1500 patients a year passing through my ward. Most are keen to return to their home, and their families are keen to resume caring for them.

“Very many suffer from dementia, and most are frail entering the last year or two of their lives. We try to make it our practice to meet the families within a day or so of their admission to our ward – and so often we hear a story of how they are all struggling to cope.

“Some have contacted Social Services for help and are on a waiting list because their needs are not yet judged to be urgent – sometimes it seems the only way to turn is to seek hospital admission, or more commonly wait for that crisis to occur which precipitates the emergency admission. Sometimes that crisis was just a fall, or simple infection, but it uncovers the struggle being endured at home.

“Other times the crisis is more serious – a pressure sore, fracture, or malnutrition – which could have been avoided if more timely assessment had been provided, with medical and social care working hand-in-hand.”

Age UK charity director general Michelle Mitchell said: “Older people at the most physically vulnerable point in their lives are being catastrophically let down. Social care should provide the necessary support so that people can live in dignity, knowing they can depend on the help they need to wash, eat, and to have a meaningful existence. Instead, Age UK and the British Geriatrics Society are seeing a generation of very vulnerable people whose health is suffering because they are not getting enough care at home.”

Age UK and British Geriatrics Society say the effects of the under-funding of social care on domiciliary care include:

•Limited funding – meaning many councils have had to cut back on their service provision.

•The vast majority of councils now only provide care to those people with substantial or critical levels of need, meaning people who are unable to undertake essential personal care tasks may now find they are ineligible for support.

•Of the 2 million older people with care related needs, 800,000 currently do not receive any formal support.

Age UK and British Geriatrics Society also claim there is evidence of the “effect of a social care system in crisis on the NHS” and have produced the following in their briefing:

• In the last year (March 2010-11 to February 2011-12) there were 16,361 delayed discharge days per week directly attributable to social care.

•In February 2012, the Health Select Committee Report on Social Care concluded: “Social care funding pressures are causing reductions in service levels which are leading to diminished quality of life for elderly people, and increased demand for NHS services. Although the transfer of £2 billion from health to social care is welcome, it is not sufficient to maintain adequate levels of service quality and efficiency.”

•A 2010 Nuffield Trust report on social care and hospital use found “some evidence across all age groups that higher social care costs at the end of life tend to be associated with lower inpatient costs. While a direct causal link between high social care use and lower hospital use cannot be confirmed, it does suggest that any reductions in the availability of local authority-funded social care might increase demand for hospital services”.