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January 2016
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no.235 • £4.75
The Number One magazine for the care sector
Funding crisis threat to care companies By Dominic Musgrave CARE homes and domiciliary care companies across the UK are threatened with closure because of a looming funding crisis, it has been claimed. And the planned introduction of the living wage in the social care sector will have ‘catastrophic’ consequences unless more money is found to pay for the spiralling costs of care. The Five Nations Care Forum, which represents the sector in the home nations and the Republic of Ireland, is so worried it has written to Chancellor George Osborne warning him it could push many care and nursing homes and domiciliary care companies over the financial edge. According to the Five Nations, the social care workforce deserve to be better rewarded but nobody has worked out how it's going to be paid for. They say the fact that more and more people are living longer is putting huge pressure on the social care sector – to the point where it is becoming “unsustainable and financially unstable”. People working in social care are due to start receiving the living wage, set at £7.20 an hour, from next April.
Mario Kreft MBE, chair of Care Forum Wales and a founder member of the Five Nations, was also concerned about the impact on the older and disabled people who use care services. He said: “We call on Government and the devolved Ministers to ensure that care services are adequately funded now and in the future. It is right that care workers should be well rewarded for the important work they do. However this is unrealistic for publically funded care providers given current prices paid by commissioning bodies for care. “It has been estimated that the cost of funding the National Living Wage in the care sector in the UK will be in excess of £2.3billion by 2020. “It is vital therefore the Chancellor addresses the growing deficit in the social care sector and that funding is provided to ensure the devolved departments with care commissioning responsibilities have adequate funds to meet the care and support needs of the population. “We are concerned that the rising costs of delivering care, if they are not met with an adequate increase in funding, will have catastrophic implications for the sector.”
Provider and University join forces for project
A receptionist from Skipton and a resident at a Horsham care home are the joint winners of a national Christmas card competition run by Barchester Healthcare. The designs of Terry Witham (pictured above), who works at Threshfield Court, and David Bower, who lives at Westlake House, have been chosen by Barchester Healthcare, and their designs will appear on a charity Christmas card to be received by people in the UK. Both pictures were chosen from hundreds of entries sent into Barchester’s Christmas Card Competition by staff and residents. Full story on page 28.
SHEFFIELD care home and home support service Sheffcare has joined forces with the University of Sheffield to take part in a pioneering project aimed at supporting an ageing population. The IN LIFE project aims to prolong and support independent living of older adults with cognitive impairment, through interoperable, open, personalised and seamless information and communications technology solutions. Sheffield is the only British city taking part in the programme, with the University working closely alongside Sheffcare, the not-for-profit provider of housing and social care. The IN LIFE project is exploring how existing flexible ICT solutions could assist older people with cognitive impairment in organising, carrying out and completing everyday tasks, giving the opportunity to continue living independently for longer. The solutions will support home activities, communication, health maintenance, travel and mobility.