Funding gap needs plugging

YOUR readers may have heard recently of the £240m of extra money being allocated to the social care system to ease pressure on the NHS this winter.

We now know this will mean that about £4.78m will be made available to local authorities in Derbyshire.

While it’s important that the Government has recognised that social care underfunding lies at the heart of our hospitals’ winter pressures, the amount committed is a let-down – less than 10 per cent of what’s needed to fix the social care crisis now.

The social care system is not just for Christmas, and people with dementia, as its biggest recipients, are experiencing the emotional and economic cost all year round.

To actually turn the tide for the 14,000 people with dementia in Derbyshire we need to plug the current funding gap and offer them the chance to access the good quality social care they have a right to. Scott Smith Alzheimer’s Society operations manager for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire