OAP care in critical condition
As report reveals more than four in ten older people are waiting over six weeks for nursing or personal help...
MORE than four in ten older people are waiting too long for social care, a charity has warned. An Age Scotland report found 43 per cent of older people with ‘critical’ or ‘substantial’ needs wait more than six weeks for nursing or personal care.
These are elderly people with conditions such as dementia who require urgent help with washing, dressing or taking medication at home or need a care home place.
Councils cited service pressures such as increased demand and limited resources.
The charity sent Freedom of Information requests to Scotland’s 32 local authorities but only 14 provided answers.
Their responses showed nearly 14,200 people with ‘critical’ or ‘substantial’ care needs in 2018. This means they are at risk if they are left unaided.
More than 6,000 of them waited more than six weeks for their care, which is the deadline within national guidelines.
But the charity warned the true figures will be higher as 18 councils were not able to provide the information requested.
Age Scotland’s chief executive Brian Sloan said: ‘Far too many older people are waiting far too long to get the social care they desperately need.
‘This is too high and action must be taken to urgently improve the situation for older people in Scotland.
‘It is a hugely stressful time for family members and the individuals concerned.’
‘While free personal and nursing care for the elderly has been a flagship, and revolutionary, policy in Scotland we need to face up to the challenges of a rapidly ageing population, more people living with dementia and the welcome expansion of this policy to those under the age of 65. This will require more investment in people and services.’ Between 2016 and 2041, the population of pensionable age in Scotland is projected to rise from 1.05million to 1.32million, an increase of 25 per cent.
The report contains a number of personal stories of families who have contacted the charity for help.
One family said their mother, Dorothy, 90, waited six months to be assessed and receive funding for her care needs. Due to the lack of communication from her local council and the urgent need to get her into care, the family found a home themselves for Dorothy but in doing so later found that she was put to the bottom of the queue for a social care assessment.
Richard Mayberry, Dorothy’s son-in-law, said: ‘Our experience of accessing the necessary social care for a loved one was long and difficult. We were waiting for days to get any kind of timeframe from the council about when they could assess Dorothy for her care needs.
‘We live so far away and it was clear that her needs were so great that we had to find a care home for her ourselves and fund her place in the short term. At the end of the day it has cost us around £4,500 which we can’t get back because the council won’t backdate to when Dorothy first entered the care home.
‘Because we had taken this necessary step to keep her safe, we then found out that it could take up to a year or more to get an assessment and approval to receive the council’s statutory funding. We could not find out where Dorothy was placed in the system despite the repeated requests.
‘The toll on our family has been considerable. We want the best for Dorothy and want to ensure her quality of life is good, but we live so far away and are hugely stressed. We’re both now taking stress-related medication.
‘It’s clear that social care in Scotland is under immense pressure,’ he added.
‘The care we experienced was superb but, it is clear carers are overstretched and rushed off their feet. There was clearly not enough time between each carer’s home visits to give adequate coverage. The main concern of their management seemed to be financial rather than the person’s needs.
‘There is too much red-tape, and long waits for assistance, to the detriment of the patients and their families’ welfare.’
Another elderly woman, Lisa, aged 73, was discharged from hospital without an assessment of her needs.
Her family stepped in and provided care where they could but must return to work soon. Her husband suffered a heart attack and had to go into hospital himself. Lisa has mobility issues, no feeling in her feet and needs help to go to the toilet.
Despite her complex needs, the response from the council was ‘less than helpful’, the family said and merely stated it had ‘limited resources’.
In another case, a woman contacted Age Scotland’s helpline regarding her 86-year-old father.
He has Alzheimer’s disease, is doubly incontinent and lacks the capacity to make decisions about himself. He was unable to get a care assessment despite his daughter asking for one.
The council said they were only able to help people who require end-of-life services.
His daughter took two weeks off work but contacted the helpline because she knew this was a short-term fix and did not know what to do next.
The Age Scotland report states: ‘When asked about the most common reasons for delays, most local authorities were unable to provide further information as they didn’t hold this centrally. Local authorities who could respond reported the pressure services face, such as increased demand and limited resources.’
Age Scotland has made recommendations, including regular, public reporting of waiting times by local authorities and better data collection.
It also calls for more social care staff and more resources put into the sector, which is under increasing demand with limited staff and spaces in care homes. The number of care homes in Scotland has reduced from 920 in 2011 to 854 in 2017.
The report adds: ‘Delays in receiving care and support put older people at risk. It can put immeasurable strain on families and carers to intervene in what can be a very distressing situation. This strain can also be financial, with people paying for care themselves.’
Sottish Tory public health spokesman Annie Wells said: ‘We keep hearing from the SNP about how wonderful its commitment to free personal care is. But that’s no good to the substantial number of vulnerable people who are waiting weeks for it to begin.
‘For these elderly and frail individuals, a few weeks is an extremely long time. It’s yet another example of SNP warm words being wildly contradicted by its actions in government.’
SCOTTISH Labour health spokesman Monica Lennon said: ‘This is an extremely concerning report, which reveals the devastating impact which long waiting times have on those affected and their families.
‘Cash-strapped health boards are spending millions keeping people in hospital when they don’t need to be there, and we need to end the crisis in social care by properly resourcing local councils.
‘Scottish Labour will ensure social care gets the resources it needs, and we will introduce a National Care Workers Guarantee with a commitment to secure hours, a living wage and reimbursement for travel and training time for staff.’
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are committed to ensuring we have high quality, person-centred sustainable social care services now and in the future; and are working to develop a programme of national support for local reform of adult social care support.
‘The introduction of “Frank’s Law” is ensuring anyone assessed as requiring personal care will receive it free of charge, regardless of their age, condition, capital or income.
‘The Scottish Budget delivers an additional £2billion of investment in 2019-20.’