Elderly Face Home Care Hike
WITHOUT home care many of the nation’s elderly wouldn’t be able to live relatively independent lives, but with councils planning to raise fees – in many cases by more than 100 per cent – a large number of OAPs may be forced into homes, or go without the care altogether.
A survey commissioned by the Telegraph has found that older people will face an average increase of 29 per cent in home care fees this year, with a quarter of councils planning rises of more than 40 per cent. London’s Brent and Lewisham councils top the list with their respective fees set to treble.
With home workers often providing the only regular form of human contact for the aged, these increases could have a devastating effect on the nation’s half-million pensioners who receive council care at home.
David Walden of the Commission for Social Care Inspection says: “If charges are so high that people don’t access the services, that could have a deleterious effect on people’s health and we would be concerned about that.”
Councils claim that the increases are linked to the current financial crisis in the NHS, with health trusts, eager to wipe out their £512 million deficit, trying to make council taxpayers foot the bill for services which the Health Service should be providing.
Whatever happens, there’s no way my Nan is coming to live with us. She’s a bloody nightmare.
You can pick up almost anything on eBay these days, even a heart valve. However, the £300 life-saving device was eventually removed from the site by bosses.
Posted: 27th, May 2007 | In: Money Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
