Published: 10 January 2006
There’s No Place Like Home
The government claims new figures show that older people are increasingly being given the chance to live independently at home, thanks to advances in technology and a government commitment to helping older people maintain their independence.
The figures, published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre, indicate that the past three years have seen a steady increase in the proportion of older people receiving intensive help to maintain a high quality of life independently at home rather than in residential care, with nearly one third (32%) now in this group, partly thanks to a rise in the number of people receiving intensive home care which is enabling them to stay independent.
Intensive home care is defined as a package of care which provides an individual with more than 10 contact hours and six or more visits a week from social services.
(No mention of community health care services, such as the District Nursing Service one notices!)
The Department of Health's Public Service Agreement states that by 2008, the proportion of older people being supported intensively to live at home should be at least 34% of the total of those being supported at home or in residential care.
Currently, across England, 65 local authorities (43%) are meeting this March 2008 target - a rise of 13 (9%) on the previous year.
The figures are published as the Government confirms how much money councils are to receive over the next two years as part of the Preventative Technologies Grant, enabling social services authorities to firm up their plans for effectively supporting even more people in their own homes by using innovative technology, known as Telecare.
The amounts form a share of the £80 million announced last year and the confirmation of the amounts will enable social services authorities to take forward their plans for the two financial years 2006/07 and 2007/08.
Care Services Minister, Liam Byrne, said:
"Our research tells us that older people want to stay in their own homes for as long as possible, and after a lifetime of work and often of service to their country, older people deserve to get what they want whenever they can.
We promised to increase the proportion of people who can stay in their own home and receive intensive support, and these figures out today show that we are meeting that promise.
Telecare is as much about the philosophy of dignity & independence as it is about equipment and services. Equipment is provided into a property to support the individual and tailored to meet their needs.
It can be as simple as the basic community alarm service able to respond in an emergency and provide regular contact by telephone. It can include detectors or monitors such as motion or falls and fire & gas that trigger a warning to a response centre.
Of course the main ‘motivator’ for people wanting to stay in their own homes could be that they want to delay, for as long as possible, the local council forcing them to sell their homes to pay for their residential care, thus depriving their families of the inheritance they have struggled for many years to build up.
The question remains though are people being charged for this service and, if not, how long will it be before they are?
Further information
PTG Funding
Health and Social Care Information Centre's report
Achieving the promise of Telecare
NHS confederation – Telecare and new technologies
Building Telecare in England
Telecare implementation guide
To find a business you can trust, click on the related categories below: