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Elderly Care Home news round-up for 15th May 2012

Elderly care petition could go to Parliament after gaining 130,000 signatures

15 May 2012

The Telegraph reports that over 50 campaigning organisations have signed a petition calling for urgent overhaul of the social care system.

Over 130,000 signatures have been collected by campaigners furious that last week's Queens Speech committed only to a draft bill for social care reform and had no mention on the funding of social care or elderly care. 

 

HMP Channings Wood's care of elderly inmates 'concerning'

15 May 2012

The BBC reports that the elderly inmates at a prison in Devon are not receiving the health care they need.

Inspectors found that there was "significant gaps of coverage" in the care of the elderly at Channings wood prison, with extensive use of locum doctors instead of providing the continuity of a local GP.  Inspectors recommended that money be spent on adapting shower facilities for the elderly and the purchase of other mobility aids. 

 

Martin Lewis: the over-50s plans with a hitch

15 May 2012

In The Telegraph, Martin Lewis considers an insurance plan aimed at the over 50's by Axa Sun Life, payable at time of death.  Lewis concludes that although not completely risk free, (if you die early, you may not have saved the amount you need), a tax-free ISA or top savings account is a safer bet and will bring more peace of mind.

 

read all the latest news on elderly care, care homes and dementia at yourcarehome news

 

Elderly Care Home news round-up for 11th May 2012

Leading article: Time is running out to reform social care

11 May 2012

The Independent calls for the challenge of social care funding to be tackled without delay.

The two major issues are that the current means tested system for social care funding does not work well and is not comprehensive, and that in the next 20 years, the number of elderly needing care and support will increase by a further 2 million.  "The time for excuses" says the Independent, "has run out."

  

Lack of comprehensive social care reform bill is 'unforgivable failure'

11 May 2012

Guardian Professional considers the Queen's Speech and the implications for avoiding the social care reform bill.

Commentator Richard Vize writes that the failure to introduce a comprehensive social care reform bill is "an unforgiveable failure of leadership" on the part of the government. 

 

Thousands of falls in elderly should be prevented: report

11 May 2012

The Telegraph reports that the number of elderly injured or killed by falls could be prevented by coordinating care between the NHS and social services.

Currently, the UK has the largest incidence of hip fractures in Europe, with the majority caused by falls in the elderly.  A falls prevention strategy could reduce the number of falls by up to 30%.

 

For full detail on today's elderly care news, visit yourcarehome news

Elderly Care news round-up for May 08

Elderly care funding should focus on poorest, says Duncan Smith thinktank

08 May 2012

The Guardian reports on think tank recommendations that care funding should target those with few or no assets.  The report, "Transforming Social Care" suggests prioritising those who are most needy, whilst phasing in recommendations made by Dilnot at a later stage.

 

Labour warns Coalition must act now on elderly care

08 May 2012

The Telegraph reports that Labour has threatened to pull out of talks if funding elderly care is not given higher priority.

Despite ordering a commission to look at the future of funding care for the elderly, David Cameron has been criticised by Labour for not taking any further steps to tackle the urgent issue.

 

Why GPs need to be more carer aware

08 May 2012

The Guardian's social care network looks at a scheme to assist GP's to support carers.

Figures suggest that one in ten people are caring for an elderly or disabled relative of friend and research shows that carers are not receiving enough support.  The Carers Trust is launching a programme to help make GP's more aware of identifying and helping carers and ensuring that they have the right support.

 

For more information on today's elderly care home news, visit yourcarehome news

Elderly Care news round-up for May 02

State must pay family carers to look after elderly, say MPs

02 May 2012

The Telegraph reports on the suggestion by MP's that families should receive funding to care for an elderly family member.

A group of Conservative MP’s suggested that the government could save £1.14 billion a year by giving funding to the family of an elderly person requiring care.

 

Alzheimer's nanoscope development grant for University of Limerick

02 May 2012

The BBC reports that researchers have been awarded a 5.4m euro grant for developing technology to screen for Alzheimer's Disease.

It is hoped that this will lead to the ability to screen patients and identify Alzheimer's in it's early stages which is vital for more effective treatment.

 

Exercise and computer games reduce memory problems: research

02 May 2012

The Telegraph reports on research that found computer use and regular exercise for the elderly can help reduce their memory loss.

Alzheimer's Research UK commented that this study supports belief that an active lifestyle can have positive impacts on the brain and the development of dementia.  They added that further research is needed and this area of research needs higher levels of funding urgently.

 

For the full news stories, visit yourcarehome latest news 

Elderly Care news round-up for May 01

Terra Firma to buy Four Seasons Health Care for £825m

01 May 2012

BBC News confirms today that the private equity group Terra Firma has agreed a £825m deal for care home group Four Seasons Healthcare.

The debt and equity deal is hoped to provide a firmer footing for the care home group, not the UK's largest since taking over 140 additional care homes from the failed Southern Cross group. 

 

Just how ill do you have to be to qualify for long-term care help?

01 May 2012

The Telegraph reports on the frustration surrounding eligibility for funding for ongoing nursing care for the elderly.

Since October 2007, there have been national guidelines for care trusts to follow to help determine if someone has a "primary health need" and would therefore qualify for continuing care.  However, much of the assessment is still down to judgement and with the significant cuts to health budgets, it has been suggested that local NHS trusts are only helping those with critical needs. 

 

Stroke survivors 'missing out on recovery services'

01 May 2012

The Guardian reports on findings that show stroke survivors are not being properly assessed on their care needs to aid recovery.

The survey carried out by The Stroke Association found that over a third of those surviving a stroke had not been assessed at all on their health or care needs regarding recovery in spite of government strategy stating that people should have assessments at various intervals once they have left hospital.

For the full stories visit yourcarehome latest news 

Ten Facts about Hearing Loss

If you care for anyone over the age of 65 or you yourself experience signs of hearing loss, it useful to understand the condition. Joan McKechnie (BSc Hons Audiology & Speech Pathology) from Hearing Direct.com has provided us with 10 facts about hearing loss which help to dispel the myths about hearing loss. 

Read Ten Facts about Hearing Loss

Bed blocking - yet another indication of the failing care system

There's a lot in the media about bed blocking at the moment, with the re-emerging issue of the elderly not being discharged from hospital when ready due to shortage of appropriate follow-on care services.

Between 2000 and 2004, the UK introduced intermediary care services, specifically aimed at providing the care needed to support elderly patients being discharged from hospital.  The local health services worked in partnership with the care services and as a result, over a million acute hospital beds were freed.  More importantly, it meant elderly patients were not stuck in hospital wards, where their risk of exposure to life threatening infections was massively increased, their confidence to be able to cope at home was reduced and their likelihood of ending up in a care home more probable.

So what went wrong?  Why the re-emergence of bed blocking?  Put simply, lack of promised funds and failure to continue the investment.  Other spending priorities emerged and spending cuts needed to be found, especially at local levels.  Social Services have had to redefine people's eligibility to qualify for care services, leaving many elderly ready to leave hospital, unable to care for themselves at home, but not qualifying for any social care.

So spending cuts have resulted in bed blocking costing the NHS millions of pounds a year, putting the elderly at risk and forcing more acute patients to have to wait for treatment.  But the larger problem seems to be the lack of integration of the budgets and management of the health services, the social services and the care system as a whole.  The real urgency for a major overhaul of the way we care for the elderly is escalating...

Read more about the issue of bed blocking in yourcarehome news...

Dementia vs Cancer? What a choice...

Today, a report by The BBC highlighted a massive difference in the spending on cancer research and the spending on dementia research - for every pound spent on dementia, twelve pounds are spent on researching cancer.

Fair enough, some might think, as cancer is widespread - yes, it is, but so is dementia and interestingly, every dementia patient costs the economy five times more than a cancer patient, and eight times more than a patient with heart disease.

So why the difference in government spending in research?  It has been suggested that dementia care falls more with the relatives than cancer care (cancer is medical care, therefore covered by the NHS, dementia is social care and in most cases is not NHS funded), so there is more pressure to fund research into cancer - the charity and heart charities are also larger.

But there is also the issue of public perception - as the report suggests, most people have personal experience of someone they know suffering from cancer of heart disease, and as both diseases can also affect younger people, they somehow seem more relevant.  Alzheimer's is usually hidden away in care homes.

I am not suggesting that there should or ever would be a real choice to make between funding cancer or Alzheimer's - but both are growing and both are costly to the economy - surely research on both should be fully funded as a matter of urgency?

Gerry Robinson takes on dementia care homes

Note the 8th and 15th December in your diaries - Management guru Sir Gerry Robinson returns to BBC 2 to try and solve the growing problem of dementia care in the UK.  In 2008 he tackled waiting times at the NHS Trust in Yorkshire in his BBC series Can Gerry Robinson fix the NHS? but can he fix the quality of care received by people with dementia this time around?

It promises to be uncomfortable viewing judging by his recent interview in the Telegraph, but any action or publicity which highlights the need to raise standards in care homes can only be good in the long run.

Can Gerry Robinson Fix Dementia Care? will be shown on BBC 2 on the 8th and 15th December at 9pm.

Dementia and teeth - really??!!

An article in the Daily Mail (Brushing your teeth could reduce your risk of dementia) caught my eye this week and gave me great entertainment as I was incredulous that American researchers could get the blindingly obvious so wrong!

Basically, they had taken volunteers over the age of 60 and tested the health of their gums and teeth. They then got the volunteers to do some simple memory tests - low and behold, 

"The men and women with the highest levels of gum disease bugs were three times as likely to have trouble recalling a three-word sequence as those with the lowest amounts"

The brilliant thing is, this was reported as a gum disease being a possible contributor to dementia....

"It is unclear how dental health may fuel memory problems and dementia. But the bugs that lurk in our gums are known to damage arteries - and arterial damage has been linked to dementia."

Did no-one consider that actually, the link is likely to be the other way around - ie rather than bad teeth causing dementia, it is people with dementia forgetting to clean their teeth?

Thankfully, the very last sentence of the article gave way to sense with the comment... 

"But British experts said that while the U.S. study was interesting it did not prove that poor dental health caused memory problems. Instead, it may be that people brush their teeth less as their memory starts to fail". 

Incredible!!!