Elderly at risk with nursing homes on the brink, shock report warns
More than seven in 10 social care providers fear they will fold within two years
THOUSANDS of elderly and disabled people are “at risk” from a crisis in social care, a damning report reveals today.
A combination of budget cuts, minimum wage increases and staff recruitment issues is pushing providers of vital help like nursing homes and house-to-house visits to the brink of collapse, a committee of MPs warned.
The alarm was raised after the Public Accounts Committee heard more than seven in 10 social care providers fear they will fold within two years.
And the number going to the wall surged by almost a fifth last year.
It sparked demands of the Government to step and make sure struggling Brits are not left without vital help.
Labour MP and committee member Bridget Phillipson said: “Our social care system is in crisis. Elderly and disabled people will continue to suffer unless ministers get to grips with the problem.”
PAC chairman Meg Hillier added: “The need for adult social care is increasing but in recent years the amount spent on such care by English local authorities has fallen in real terms.
“In this time of real funding pressures, central government must work with local authorities to safeguard the market for social care.”
The report warned care providers are struggling as councils cut spending, the new national living wage is set to come into force and suitably qualified staff are hard to come by.
In a worrying prediction, it said: “The fragility of the social care market in many areas is putting people at risk. There is a real threat that many care providers will not survive.”
That was echoed by National Care Association executive chairman Nadra Ahmed, who warned pressures will get worse as more people live longer.
She told The Sun: “The demographics are very clear – there is going to be more need, not less.
“The challenges are very real and social care is the answer, not the problem.
“We need to support social care and understand that people are going to have to be looked after.”
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Previous concerns have been raised that GPs are increasingly ducking care home visits due to cost pressures and that under pressure carers are spending just minutes with patients in their own homes.
The crisis is so serious that a separate Commons committee also announced a probe into the problem yesterday.
Communities and Local Government Committee chairman Clive Betts said: “Adult social care provides a lifeline to some of the most vulnerable people in society but is coming under increasing pressure as a result of growing demand and declining local authority budgets.
“Our inquiry will look at the financial sustainability of this care and support to see what can be done to allow councils to continue to meet their legal obligations for future generations.”