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Adult social care - individuals and carers web forum

Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee

  • What works and what doesn't work about the current system?
  • Have you seen services in your area change?
  • How could services be improved?
  • As a carer, what do you think are the challenges facing the sector?
  • As a carer, are you getting the support you need, financially and in terms of your health and well-being?

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83 Contributions (since 11 August 2016)
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Total results 83 (page 4 of 9)

David Eaton

26 August 2016 at 20:14

The price of care as gone up to the point that you cannot afford it, the whole care industry needs an overall from top to bottom, some of the care staff are not fit to do the job, my wife had long hair, till one carer cut about 12 inches off with out even asking.

jenny dent

26 August 2016 at 19:20

I get social care at home and as a social services client I get my care through an agreed agency which I have used for 13 years. The care I get is good and I am very thankful for it. However my financial contribution towards the costs have rocketed since the advent of the conservative Government and the so called fairer charging policy. A year or so ago I paid just under £70 per month now I pay £208 a month. In addition to this I now pay £27 per month for my life line alarm which was previously free. I went onto direct payments when procurement came in but I have come off it due to being informed of price rises of which Social Services would not fund. So I am no longer on Direct Payments As I cannot afford it. We were told that more money would be put into care. It's a lie every year the council cut the care budget. The turnover of staff is high and as fast as you get used to carers they get taken off and sent elsewhere. There is no dignity when that happens and it makes life harder. Carers are very undervalued, underpaid and don't get travel time. They get pay docked at the drop of a hat and frustration boils over. As a client I would say is the level of care one receives is only as good as the carer who comes through the door. The fact that they are undermined doesn't help

Sara Scrimshaw

26 August 2016 at 19:04

Dear Sir. Madam I am young lady on the Autistic Spectrum, i have been failed by Mental health NHS Services/ and other Nhs Professionals now for 49 months as they say because I am autistic I am no longer entitled to any care or support from any services, I am an officially Trained Autism Advocate for all those on the Autistic spectrum and have tried to professionally collaborate with Nhs professionals around the Governments requirements around autism but they do not want our help and other services such as focus adult social care will not support anybody on the autistic spectrum, I am a self-harmer and said I no longer care and I am trying to support those on the autistic spectrum who are being denied support and care because there is no money within the NHS System, so what are those like me supposed to do in the long run, wait until there becomes such a crisis situation that they commit suicide and get put on medication to try and stabilise there moods like me I am stuck on medication for the rest of my life to stop me committing suicide.

Gail Ward

26 August 2016 at 17:20

The current system fails both person in need of care and carers alike. Operating a critical care basis means many miss out on vital services they need, and are left to struggle which can cause health deteriation.I cant get the support I need. They need to change the language in these care acts.

Yvonne collins

26 August 2016 at 16:33

Care you have to be joking due to a move 3 miles up road same area I have been waiting for my husband to be allocated a care manager they send assessment forms each year never any follow up no equipment my husband has cerebral palsy he has a stoma lymphadeama I care for him as well as my sister severe learning difficulties 24/7 never had any help have not so much as had 1 hour to spend on myself all for 62.10 a week what am I saving the services yet cannot have help with equipment or care if I decide to give up it will cost thousands to have them both put into care a little help now would make so much difference

Rosie Tayleure

26 August 2016 at 16:09

Nothing works about the system, I was abused for a long time and left fully disabled never been offered help once and even when I went into crisis and carer breakdown has happened still not getting any help at all. Some social workers understand but it's the managers and funding panel that have got no care or compassion at all and never actually bother to come and visit the person in question. They also think they are health professionals and think they know what's best for the person without meeting with them and they don't. I needed to flee the area I lived in because I was at risk and felt unsafe from further abuse but they all just suggested that my whole family just up sticks and move which we can't physically do when all our care support is around this area where we live. And a manager also told me that i can't be scared of men for the rest of my life I will if you don't put any support or care in for me. The whole system is useless and to top it off they have closed all social work cases in Hampshire because they've moved people into short term and long term help. I've got a level of need that is no way being met and I've even said I give up on my life and don't want to carry on and they don't give a damn. Don't bother with social services.

Jill Honeybun

26 August 2016 at 13:24

There needs to be far greater emphasis on training. No one should be sent out to support someone to cook a nutritious meal if they know nothing about nutrition. My mum had a carer who couldn't make gravy. My son's carers gave him not one piece of fruit or veg in a week and then said it wasn't their fault if he didn't eat healthy food. If they are responsible for his shopping and his cooking, and he lacks mental capacity, of course it's their responsibility. Worst of all, his carers can't account for his money properly. Cash disappears, with a budget of £100 a week he is regularly supported to spend over £140, with the inevitable consequence of going overdrawn. They are unaware because they don't know how to keep records. But Social Services take no action. Care staff should have basic qualifications in nutrition and money management if they deal with food prep. and money management.

john glover

26 August 2016 at 12:39

well where do i start there are no facilities for people with profound learning difficulties and issues with behavioural problems in my area so therefore my daughter is at home 24/7 disabled person as a carer the biggest challenge i see is the lack of respect and care and help carers get from the government itself 1 carers should never be classified as benefit claimants we work and we work damn hard up to 100 hrs a week for peanuts and we save this country onward of £119 billion a year in care costs yet always at bottom of pack the unloved uncared for and unwanted part of British society we get little or no support and what we get can be seen as bullying and intimidation by the system [its toe the line or we cut u further]and for financial support are you kidding £62.10 to do a job that if i surrendered tomorrow would cost the state £3500 a week we have become political prisoners in our own homes without help or care from the British government if every carer in uk quit tomorrow this country would face a huge crisis of financial proportions worse than the financial crash the care homes are inadequate the hospitals couldn't cope and to meet the standards of care billions would have to be spent in months to carer for the disabled care CARERS IN UK ARE HEROES AND DESERVE TO BE TREAT THAT WAY AND NOT LIKE BENEFIT SCROUNGING SCUMM

liz jones

26 August 2016 at 11:27

Works when the law is followed Does no work when terms like 'reasonable ' are being used to reduce costs and manipulate the new care act. Services reduced follow the law Carers should be equal partners they are being bullied Heath and wellbeing is not considered financial assistance directly to the carer in the way of personal budgets for carers only for the few

Horatio Tremoine

26 August 2016 at 10:45

the fundamental issue with health and social care 'system' is that the funding model is diametrically opposed to efficiency and effectiveness. Until and unless funding is taken away from local authorities - whose expertise in commissioning is woeful (and I can bore you with more details about that in due course if you want) then the foundations of health and social care will be at the mercy of different organisations with different agendas, different budgetary structures, different priorities and incompatible 'systems' such as data exchange, team structures and communication methods. The first step must be aggregation of budgets and commissioning, the latter undertaken by procurement professionals with a mandatory degree. The prevailing message concerning 'integration' is the next step because until there is a cohesive and 'lined up' long term plan (not 'strategy' please) that describes what is being integrated and why, who is doing what and why and how the different components of the 'system' now lock together to produce a definable outcome. the staggering amounts of national treasure that are being wasted by a bi-polarised system of NHS and local authorities undermines the potential of care services to function in an systematic and cohesive way. the next issue is commissioning proper: there are about 400 commissioners of health and social care, including NHS-E, CCGs and local authorities. This is insanity. Cashier the lot and put the money to creating realistic long term plans with a minimum of five year contracts, preferably seven year, ideally ten year funding structures. In this way national strategies can be developed cohesively and in line with scientific developments. Then there is 'regulation' this adds to the ludicrous and parlous state of the sustainability of the health and social care sector. The Care Quality Commission costs in excess of £400m per annum and has succeeded in depressing morale within the sector. The CQC's regime of attempting to reverse engineer quality back into the system is extraordinarily pointless and their programme of assessments is even more ludicrous. Using a Social Justice model to inspect care services is a massive failure of intellect and deploying 'virtue signalling' as a measure of compliance is farcical. The approach of the CQC has absolutely nothing to do with clinical effectiveness, medical efficiency, care outcomes or the value of a care programme to the recipient of services. Therefore, closure of the CQC and the installation of peer review would release around £375m immediately back into the resources for providing hands on care. Combine that with the winding-up of CCGs and LA commissioning et al and around a £1bn can be re-invested immediately back into the care system. Next comes the problem of NHS stock and estate. It is exceedingly improbable that any 'general hospital' with around / less than 350 beds can ever offer the scale of services, the depth of clinical experience and breadth of support that contemporary medicine and science dictates. Closure of the vast majority of small scale local hospitals with transfer of all services to regional or even sub-regional hubs will release £bn's: close Kettering, Mansfield, Kidderminster and create viable safety net system to support University Teaching Hospitals. Similarly, everyone knows there at least two and probably four too many large hospitals in greater London: close St Helier, West Middlesex and a couple of others. Then we come to the social care. Social care should be placed on the spectrum of the 'system' in a way that creates the early warning signals to prevent admission and the safety net for after hospital care rather than enfeebled current approach of a race to the bottom for an hourly rate that defies economic gravity. We should be investing £millions in a Buurtzorg system of quasi-independent and devolved community care. We should recognise that the way we 'do things' in the UK is structurally inept and institutionally wasteful of precious national resources: fine tuning a bad system does not create a better system, but merely a finely tuned bad system. If there was ever a time to dramatically save state provision of health and social care it is now by getting a grip on the real issues rather than fiddling while Rome burns.

Total results 83 (page 4 of 9)