Elderly in UK face ‘absolute crisis'

London: Cuts to social care services mean that Britain's elderly are facing an ‘absolute crisis', according to the head of a leading charity.

Age UK's director Michelle Mitchell said increasing numbers of older people with considerable care needs were ‘getting absolutely no support at all, or poor quality and limited support' as a result of cuts to local authority provision.

She said research by the King's Fund health charity showed the number of older people who need significant care support but receive no assistance will reach almost 900,000 in 2012, rising to one million by 2015.

"This means people will deteriorate more quickly and go into hospital," she warned. "We have seen the rates of admissions to hospital increase over the last few months which, apart from anything else, is very expensive — to have someone admitted through A&E and then kept in hospital.

"Care is in crisis and it is getting worse. We have evidence to show that local authorities have cut care for older people by 4.5 per cent this year — and this at a time when social care is chronically underfunded anyway." A report from the Department of Health earlier this month showed the number of older people given help to live decently in their own homes dropped by 120,000 last year.

Service squeeze

Some were told they no longer qualified for help, while thousands were simply told their social workers no longer provided the service. Council chiefs have been withdrawing home help over the past five years, with the rate of cutbacks rapidly speeding up, the report on community care statistics said.

Mitchell said some older people who are unable to undress themselves are being put to bed at 5pm — because it is the only time that care workers can fit them in — and left there until 10am the next day.

The squeeze on care services comes as older people are being forced to ‘eke out' an existence on the edge of poverty due to rising fuel and food prices, she added.

 — Daily Mail