PRESS RELEASE
EMBARGOED: 20 April 2009
For attention of Newsdesks
Contact: Gordon Deuchars, office: 020 7820 6777 or mobile:07793062192, Email:
165, 000 older Londoners may have unmet care needs
An Age Concern London report, launched on 20 April 2009, reveals that an estimated 270, 000 older Londoners may need some degree of care yet only
105, 000 are receiving a care service from their local authority2.
Our report “Getting care right for older Londoners” and film “Who Cares?” both launched today, reveal the effect that the decline in quality and levels of provision are having on older people in London. National and local funding restrictions have harmed the quality of care services provided and left many vulnerable older Londoners to cope on their own unsupported.
Age Concern London believes that the Government and local authorities could be saving very substantial amounts on health services3 each year simply by investing in services that detect and help older people with care needs earlier. The majority of London councils now only provide care to older people assessed as having “critical” or “substantial” care needs. Age Concern London believes that the cuts to preventative care services for those with low to moderate needs are actually escalating the problem further down the line as people are not getting the help they need to prevent the deterioration of their health and subsequent need for “critical” or “substantial” intervention.
Maureen Hamilton, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease sufferer, 67, said:
“For the last 5 years I have fought to get the care I need to remain independent in my own home. There were times when I phoned social services unable to breathe let alone talk and it would take days to get allocated a carer because they needed to find funding to pay for my care. Mean while I would be admitted to hospital when with the right care I could have remained at home.
If I had home insurance with a company to cover my roof being blown off and made regular payments to cover that yet when it was blown off they said sorry we’re not going to put it back on – I would have a case to take them to court for breach of contract! Yet, older citizens, like myself, who have worked all our lives paying taxes and national insurance are being denied the service we have paid for and no one seems to see the injustice of this.
I have battled long and hard to get the care I need but there are many older people who don’t have the energy or perseverance who are suffering in silence. It is our human right to receive adequate care to live independently with dignity. The saddest thing is that there is no sign my fight has changed anything – future generations are going to have to fight just as hard if not harder than me to get the care they have paid for and deserve to receive”
Samantha Mauger, Chief Executive of Age Concern London, said:
“Many vulnerable people live alone or without support and do not qualify for help from social services. Many live in terrible difficulty, needing support with personal care and with keeping their home environment safe and clean. We know that the conditions in which we live impact on our well being, both in terms of our mental health and in terms of keeping safe and well. Without resourcing preventative services we are just fire fighting by supporting those only in greatest need. If people are given help at an earlier stage of ill health or disability there is a greater chance of preventing them from ever needing services for substantial or critical needs which are much more expensive to run and sustain. This report highlights that the social care and health services could be making major savings as well as improving the quality of older Londoners lives for longer simply by investing in services that detect and respond to older peoples care needs earlier.”
Brenda Bond, Age Concern Lewisham & Southwark, said:
Central and local government rhetoric is all about choice, control, personalisation. What is choice if it is unaffordable? ACLS, with many others, welcomes the emphasis on personalised care, but there needs to be a recognition that meeting someone’s needs flexibly takes more time some days than others and that one person’s longer visit means the next person’s visit is late and / or short. To build in capacity for this kind of flexibility has an immediate effect on cost – and cost is now the deciding factor in the award of contracts for most health and social care.
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Notes to editors:
1. Age Concern London is one of the capital’s premier NGOs campaigning on behalf of older people in London.
2. Based on 2007 figures from the NHS information Centre
3. Social care is provided by local authorities whilst health care is provided by the NHS
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Contact: Gordon Deuchars, office: 020 7820 6777 or mobile:07793062192, Email:
PR004/2009