£250,000 for Bay’s social care services

SOCIAL care services in the Bay are to receive £250,000 of extra Government cash to help patients come out of hospital and receive better care at home.

It is part of the £150million announced by the coalition Government to be spent on shortening hospital stays across the country during the busy winter period.

This is on top of the £648million already given to primary care trusts this financial year to support social care services, and the cash is due to savings made in the Department of Health’s budget.

Torbay MP Adrian Sanders said the money can be used to access various preventative services such as better home care support, crisis response teams and specialist equipment for people in Torbay.

He added: “It is of particular importance to do everything we can to ensure people are cared for at home in a safe and familiar environment, with their family and friends close by.

“The coalition is already doing the right thing and providing an extra £7.2billion in social care funding over the next four years. This extra cash for Torbay further shows how the Liberal Democrats recognise that we all prefer to be out of hospital, receiving care in our own home.”

Liberal Democrat Health Minister Paul Burstow, who supported the use of this extra funding to provide better care to people in their own homes, said: “By reinvesting these savings in social care we can offer more help more support to older people leaving hospital.

“It is absolutely crucial that the NHS and local authorities work together to help people leave hospital when they are ready. The benefits are on all sides — patients get to go home with the support they and their families need, and hospital beds are freed up.

“This money will help cut the delays in getting the equipment and adaptations that people can need to enable them to live independently at home, saving them from an unnecessary stay in hospital or going into residential care.”