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Government Boosts Home Care Fund by £150 Million (5 January 2012)

Date: 05/01/2012

Duncan Lewis, Legal News Solicitors, Government Boosts Home Care Fund by £150 Million

Ministers have added an extra £150 million to the fund allocated for patient care in the home following warnings that the cuts made by local authorities were pushing social care to a crisis point. Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, claimed that the additional cash for England had derived from efficiency savings. A further £20 million is set to be directed to aid people to live independently in their own homes. Just last week, Age UK had warned that a reduction in funding for home care could leave elderly individuals completely lacking in support. Mr. Lansley has told of how the additional funding will enable the elderly to receive the support they require following a period of hospitalisation to recover their strength and regain their independence in their own accommodation.

The King's Fund think-tank has cautioned that the elderly were unnecessarily occupying hospital beds, effectively threatening the ability of the NHS to meet its efficiency savings targets. The think-tank has urged the NHS to reduce the number of elderly individuals arriving at hospitals as emergency cases but who remain in hospital care for greater than two weeks, despite having recovered. While the government had already allocated £648 million of funding to primary care trusts for the provision of support social care services during 2011/12, the extra funding has been welcomed by the Local Government Association's community wellbeing board who claimed that, in providing additional money, the Government had effectively recognised that the current social care system failed to receive adequate funding.

Duncan Lewis’ welfare benefits solicitors can work together with the housing solicitors to ensure that the elderly receive the home care that they require.