no.312
January 2023
incorporating
The Number One magazine for the care sector
£500m discharge fund is ‘just a sticking plaster’ A £500m fund to help social care has been dismissed as a “small sticking plaster for a gaping wound”. Campaigners say the Adult Social Care Discharge Fund, whilst welcome, won’t touch the sides in tackling the underlying crisis in social care. They say the fund isn’t enough, will be slow to reach frontline care due to bureaucracy and is providing a smokescreen for proper reform. The Government has announced the fund to tackle the problem of delayed hospital discharges due to a lack of care packages. The Independent Care Group says the money simply isn’t enough. “It may sound churlish to criticise extra funding,” said chair Mike Padgham, “But in this case the Government is offering a small sticking plaster for a huge, gaping wound that urgently needs surgery. “To begin with, the money has been slow in coming and the first half won’t start being paid until next month, after it was announced in September. “Then, as is always the case, getting the money looks to be mired in bureaucracy with commissioners having to get through a mountain of paperwork before they see a penny. “All in all, this is welcome money, and we do look forward to working
with the integrated care boards and local authorities to ensure it does get to the frontline of social care delivery as quickly as possible. “But looking at the bigger picture we do have to say it is a drop in the ocean, compared to what is really needed.” The ICG says there is a danger that the Fund will be a distraction from the root and branch reform that social care needs to end the gridlock in care. “Together with the extra money announced in last week’s Autumn Statement, it looks on the surface as though social care is getting more cash in its coffers, but it is all smoke and mirrors,” Mr Padgham added. “None of this goes anywhere near the minimum extra £7bn a year the Chancellor has himself previously said social care needs, just to stand still. “We are still needing the reform needed to address the 1.6m people who can’t get care and the 165,000 vacancies in the sector. Only when we do that will we see an increase in the social care packages available and the easing of the gridlock in NHS hospitals.” The ICG says more than 30 years of neglect and under-funding has left social care on the brink of collapse, with Covid-19, chronic staff shortages and the cost-ofliving crisis turning the situation critical.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the house when 90-year-old carer Mary Houghton, who works at Tudor Bank Nursing Home in Southport, won the Lifetime Achievement Award at the fifth annual Caring UK Awards at the Athena in Leicester recently. Mary came to the UK from Ireland when she was 16 and started working at Southport Hospital, eventually getting promoted to an auxiliary nurse. She worked there until she retired at the age of 60, but her retirement only lasted a week before she got a job as a carer at Tudor Bank and has worked there ever since. Full round up starts on page 15.
Home releases music single GLASTONBURY Care Home has released an inspiring single, ‘I See You’. The song marks the launch of the ‘I See You’ Community Social Fund, aiming to raise money for elderly care residents who live without the funds to afford basics such as new clothes, toiletries and haircuts – often relying on the generosity of frontline care staff or charitable donations. The song was written, produced, performed and funded entirely by professional musician Paul Denegri, who has volunteered for a year at the care home. Paul will be bringing music to the bedsides of residents as a continuation of an initiative that has touched the hearts of residents and care staff alike
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with his one-to-one bedside music sessions. He aspires to not only raise money for elderly residents in need with the I See You Community Social Fund, but to also encourage and support musicians – whether professional or amateur – in volunteering at their local care homes to spread the cheer, comfort and community of live music to those in the last chapter of their lives. After a personal experience Paul was inspired to produce the song and video after realising the profound effect music can have especially with the elderly. ‘I See You’ has officially been released today and can be viewed on Youtube and downloaded for free on Spotify.
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