Care system ‘lurches from one crisis to the next’ as it fails elderly
BRITAIN’S pensioners are being let down by a social care system staggering from one crisis to another, warns a report.
Lack of care has led to the rate of avoidable emergency admissions to hospital more than doubling in the past 13 years.
Every 90 seconds a pensioner is re-admitted to their local hospital, according to analysis by Age UK.
Its damning verdict is that pensioners living alone are at greatest risk and that the care system fails to help an ageing population.
England has seen a 63 per cent rise in the overall rate of avoidable admissions since 2003.
But these rates have increased by 107 per cent for those aged 65 to 69 – and by 119 per cent for those aged 75 to 79.
In 2016-’17 there were 341,074 avoidable emergency admissions for people aged 65 and over.
Caroline Abrahams, charity director of Age UK, said: “The safety net for older people living at home has worn dangerously thin after years of underfunding and an absence of workforce planning across both health and care.
“This is why the numbers of older people whose emergency admissions to hospital could have been avoided are rising so fast.
“Our GP and community health services like District Nursing are understaffed and overstretched and yet many older people are completely dependent on them to sustain their independence, health and well-being.”
Almost half a million older people in England have three or more health conditions which mean they need help with daily essentials such as getting out Age UK’s Caroline Abrahams of bed, using dressing. But only a third of these 465,000 over-65s receive social care at home, with the remainder relying on family or going without. More than 3.6 million people aged 65-plus live alone. Adult social care services face a £3.5billion funding gap by 2025 just to maintain existing standards of care, according to the Local Government Association. A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said: “The Government has committed to a long-term plan with a sustainable multi-year settlement for the NHS to help to manage growing patient demand.” The Daily Express has launched a petition calling for the appointment of a Minister for Older People as part of the newspaper’s Respect for the Elderly crusade. See https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/220923 the lavatory or