Plans To Change Social Care System Must Be Properly Funded And Regulated, UK

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 12 Dec 2007 - 3:00 PDT

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UNISON, the UK's largest public service union, called on the Government to make sure that changes to allow elderly and disabled people to choose their own care are properly funded and regulated. While supporting the principle of giving elderly and vulnerable people more control over their own lives, the union is not convinced about the Government's plans because the system will still be underfunded.

Head of Local Government, Heather Wakefield, said:

"Our social work members want elderly and vulnerable people to be able to live independently in the community. They will welcome, too, moves that free up their time from lengthy assessments, to enable them to use and develop their skills in working directly with the elderly.

"We support investment in higher quality services. Currently outsourced home care and community services that people will have to "buy" must be adequately funded. Otherwise staff will remain underpaid and undervalued, leading to high staff turnover and vacancy levels. Turnover is running at nearly 30% a yer in the established care sector. 80% of home care services are outsourced - there are literally hundreds of providers in some councils so it will be hard to choose between them.

"Local councils must not use this latest move to cut their social care budgets. They should have a key role in liaising with personal budget holders and their families and in co-ordinating services. We fear that the one-stop shops will be contracted-out. They will be akin to independent financial advisers with the same scope for miss-selling and malpractice, so they must be regulated and inspected.

"And we want to make sure that local authority and NHS services are promoted and supported within the system. That means councils, within local strategic partnerships and local area agreements, to be the lead bodies for developing services for personal budget holders.

"The independent evaluation of the 13 pilot authorities is not complete until April, and it may throw up more areas of concern. We will want talks about the detail with Government and local authorities."

UNISON has 1.4 million members, including 300,000 working in social care.

http://www.unison.org