yourcarehome.co.uk blog

Freedom of Choice - a bad idea?

The Department of Health wants all adults in England to be given the money to manage and pay for their own care by 2011, according to a report by The BBC this week.  This "personalisation" which is already happening in other areas of the social services is still a controversial method of organising care funding...

I can see some definite benefits - it gives people so much more freedom in managing their own care and selecting where they live or who comes into their home.  But there are some very real concerns, it seems to me - firstly, many elderly are not going to want to cope with the added pressure of having to hire and employ people; are they going to know the questions to ask to ensure the employ the right carer, and how do they go about verifying references and police checks?  Also, as some campaigners have pointed out, elderly people with money to spend on care could be particularly vulnerable to scams or persuasion and social workers argue that it could complicate things and make safeguarding the elderly more difficult.

Is this a situation where freedom of choice could be a bad idea or could a system be put in place where choice was still an option, but the actual payment etc of the care was still regulated and done through the social services?

Care funding - promises vs reality

Party conference season is in full swing and the issue of elderly care funding has been high on the agenda for both Labour and Conservatives.  Gordon Brown has positioned himself behind the idea of a "National Care Service", with the public helping to fund care through direct payments, insurance premiums or compulsory fees - none of these ideas have been decided upon yet.... David Cameron proposed an £8000 payment to a national insurance scheme in return for full care funding, and then decided that actually what he really meant to say was that it wouldn't be for full care funding and that the public would have to pay top-ups - so nothing settled, yet then....

And that's just the point - it is wonderful that the care issue is taking a higher place on the political agenda, but these proposals which are being presented to the public are a long way from being the finished article and that's where things start to get confusing.

I attended The Care Show (a trade fair for all things care-related - hardly buzzing, but that's another story) yesterday and I heard from people in the know that the public are incredibly confused about what is being offered to them and many are postponing any sort of care planning in the belief that the government - be it Labour or Conservative - is going to pay for it all.

A classic case of a little information being a dangerous thing...

For help in clarifying the situation, read  Q&A Social care plans (the proposals from both parties summarised) 

and to find out what you are entitled to NOW read All you need to know about funding your care