Thousands are waiting for care assessments
UNPRECEDENTED DEMAND ACROSS CITY AND COUNTY
UNPRECEDENTED social care demand has resulted in more people waiting for social care in Leicester and Leicestershire.
There are currently about 2,500 people in the city and across the county who are waiting to have their social care needs assessed by Leicester City Council and Leicestershire County Council.
Leicester’s assistant mayor for social care, Sarah Russell, said this is because of higher levels of demands for services.
She said: “Our social care teams are responding to unprecedented demand.
“The work to move people out of hospital to support the NHS is prioritised and all cases are risk assessed regularly, so that people are seen and assessed on the basis of need rather than time waiting”.
In Leicester, there are currently 1,463 people waiting for an initial assessment with the city council’s social care team to see if they are eligible for support under the Care Act.
This assessment considers their ability to carry out tasks such as eating properly, dressing themselves and maintaining personal hygiene.
The county council has around 1,000 people waiting for an assessment of any kind.
In addition to Care Act assessments, they could be including Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards and Occupational Therapy. Leicestershire County Council added that 170 people who have had their assessment are waiting for their care to begin.
There are also 3627 people over the two councils who are overdue a review of their care plans.
In the city, there are 2,127 people waiting for a review and 1,500 people waiting across the county.
This comes as a report by the charity the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services found that 400,000 people in the UK experienced social care delays between August and October of
this year.