15.09.11
Age UK calls for reform of care system
Age UK has said it is “shocking” that NHS hospitals and care homes are not providing sufficient care for elderly people.
The new data came from a Care Quality Commission (CQC) report.
Michelle Mitchell, charity director of Age UK said: “It's not acceptable that NHS hospitals and care homes with nursing are not complying with basic minimum standards required for the wellbeing and welfare of older people. It's shocking to see that only half of NHS hospitals and care homes with nursing are meeting their obligation to provide effective, safe and appropriate treatment which meets their needs and protect their rights and that 30% fail on nutrition, welfare and safety.”
With an ageing population, care needs to improve, not decline, the charity states. Age UK is also concerned about the low number of inspections carried out this year by the CQC.
Mitchell said: “The demand for high quality of health and social care will only increase as our population continues to age. The CQC's report clearly demonstrates this by the rise in domiciliary care agencies and contracts received by social care departments.
“Providing good quality care to all that need it should be a basic requirement in a civilised society, however barriers, such as councils tightening eligibility criteria to those with the highest care needs often prevents people from getting the support they need to lead independent and happy lives.
”It's worrying to see a huge drop in the number of inspections, however effective monitoring can only be done with sufficient funding - something the CQC does not have at present. We would like to see yearly inspections to guarantee quality of care for many older people in hospitals and care homes across the country and a commitment from Government to ensure the regulator is fully resourced to do so.
“The care of the most vulnerable in our society is one of the most important issues facing the country and too important to cast aside and be labelled as 'too costly or difficult'. We need the Government to show leadership and make the difficult but vital decisions to reform our broken care system and lift the fear out of later life - we owe that to older people now and generations to come.”
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