Elderly suffering from cutbacks in home care

Sarah Saunderson • Published 4 Mar 2010 14:20 0 Comments

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Is this the way we should treat our elderly?

A Fermanagh care assistant has spoken out about how the slashing of home help hours to care for elderly people in their homes is seriously affecting lives.

The woman, who does not wish to be named, has spoken about her fears for her clients as one MLA has talked about a "serious crisis" in the domiciliary or at-home care sector due to cuts by the Western Health Trust.

The carer said that one elderly client who has a chronic disease and use of only one arm had her care cut just two weeks after an operation. The client now pays herself for care.

"They are cutting hours down. Someone who got an hour is getting 45 minutes and someone who got 45 minutes is getting half an hour," she said.

"What good is half an hour to anyone? When you go in they like to talk to you. We are expected to make a hot dinner, allow them to finish it and wash up within an hour. Nobody could do it," she said.

"It seems it does not matter about people who worked all their lives. Once you reach 60, as far as I see it, you are out the window," she said.

Mr. Tommy Gallagher said that the early discharge policy from hospital is adding to pressures. He said: "The number of elderly people in need of care in this area has been growing steadily. However the funding for home care is completely inadequate. Over the last year most domiciliary care packages have been cut and home help hours for vulnerable people have been slashed.

"The early discharge policy for patients at local hospitals has added to the pressures. People sent out early from hospitals have high care needs but the Trust is not providing extra money for these patients.

"It is not just patients' families who are dissatisfied, some experienced care assistants now feel that they are not being given sufficient time to provide for the needs of those they care for".

Over February and March, the Trust is seeking to reduce an overspend in this sector by £250,000.

Mrs. Caroline Kelly, Chair of the South West Carers' Forum agreed there is a crisis in the system. "The specific budget allocated for Fermanagh for domiciliary care is probably not going to grow. One way to spend smarter would be to involve service users and carers in planning," she said.

An elderly person who has care needs in the home has a care plan, which stipulates the hours of care they are entitled to and cover arrangements for holidays. "What we are finding with existing care plans and budgets that have been allocated to provide say a minimal 20 hours of care out of a week, that pot of money, is not being managed correctly," she said. Family carers have to step into the breech is paid carers' leave is not covered, for instance.

"Our Forum is hearing of family carers ending up going back to the scenario of having to give up jobs and stay at home. There was a period of time when there seemed to be more resources to allow those carers who wished to make the choice and go out and work and have domiciliary care. There was a time when unpaid carers were able to make arrangements now because of the growing population and shortage of resources and money to pay for domiciliary care, there is a growing crisis," she said.

"The existing care management is a shambles. The bottom line is that the existing care management for old people and all areas of social care is in a shambles and is not being managed correctly. A lot of this is the Trust's making. They haven't got out and partnered with and talked to communities. Together we can come up with a solution for local areas.

"There are serious accidents waiting to happen not just with the elderly people but what family carers are being forced to make difficult decisions that will affect their own health, economic well-being and family relationships. It is all coming to a crisis. There are going to be serious problems going forward, going to be people neglected and people not cared for. We are barely hanging on" she said.

A spokesperson for the Western Trust said: "The Western Trust receives a budget of approximately £20million per year to spend on domiciliary care. At the end of December 2009, this budget was overspent by £2.7million and the Trust is seeking to reduce this over expenditure by £250,000 between the start of February 2010 and 31 March 2010.

"Given this, the Trust is currently providing domiciliary care to those assessed as having critical levels of risk / need in keeping with the Regional Access Criteria to ensure resources are targeted to those with greatest need. Trust staff namely key workers continually monitor, review all care packages and adjust according to need to ensure that all clients receive an appropriate service. Part of the reason that the budget for this type of care is overspent is that the Trust wishes to make this provision for clients. We would ask for the public to support Western Trust staff, who have been working hard to provide services to patients and clients in this very challenging financial environment. The Trust remains committed to ensuring that those most in need receive an appropriate service and will continue to lobby for additional resources meet the increasing needs of older people."

This article appeared in Impartial Reporter 04 Mar 10

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