Where’s the care in the Care Act?

Where’s the care in the Care Act?

A year and a half since the Care Act  come in, 100 + pages, 78 sections, of the act, 22 and counting sets or regulations and 600 + pages of guidance notes, with 2 sets of amendments so far. Yet has anything improved?

Let’s start from the beginning as a service user, with fluctuating conditions which gradually get worse year on year, nothing has changed. The local authority implementation of it is ad hoc at best, there argument austerity or old people are living longer.

People really need to realise, austerity is a political thought process which in the most has failed. The Care Act and ensuring the duties therein are met is the law, made by the whole of Parliament. So which needs to come first? How can we continue to cut essential services, axe benefits for the most needy, whilst pandering to the rich? Last year saw tax cuts for the rich, and more and more devastation for those on the breadline. I work as an advocate and therefore hear real life stories every day. Some of these stories really frighten me, as to the path we seem to be taking. Yet the authorities brush them of as individual complaints and don’t seem to see the issues or bigger picture.

In my part of the country for the last five years there has been cut after cut not all I believe have been implemented following proper, thorough consultation as required by law in fact most authorities have pushed through a lot of changes on the basis of keeping fingers crossed and not being challenged via  the Judicial Review system.

What about the argument that people are living longer? As usual I’ve heard and believed this rhetoric, but have a look at National Statics Office data, less people are being born year on year. And MORE elderly people have died over the last five years than before. So much so that apparently public health are asking questions? One of the papers I read on this subject actually correlate this fact to cuts in Social Care. 

Our authorities Social Services over the last three years have not only come in on budget, but have sent money back to the pot. The overall cost and effects have been all on the service users. So the argument that there is no money doesn’t really stand up. I believe as with NHS (again there is money in the National Insurance budget, which can’t be spent on anything else but the NHS) is more about privatisation than savings. When privatisation occurs only people at the top, the elite who are making all the decision’s do well out of it. If you don’t make a profit why do it?

I really believe as people are pushed further and further in to crisis it won’t be long before service users try to bring potential criminal complaints against heads of social care and councils via charges of ill treatment or wilful neglect or even under the common law duty of care that is owed under our legal system. If an authority knows because they are being told that they are not meeting their duties under the act, then potentially if anything happens or doesn’t happen to a person due to care not being provided the authority and officers could be held liable. No one wants this but as people are pushed increasingly sooner or later they will push back.

It would seem to me that the only bits under the Care Act most authorities are keen to implement are those that give them powers to make charges and not really look at those areas where savings can be made by giving independence choice and control.

Here’s a few example:

The Care Act, allows for assisted assessments, what this means in essence is the person does the assessment themselves and the authority hold their hand and are available to guide. To me just what independence choice and control are about? Yet I haven’t seen one step forward by my authorities in this area. How much officer time could this save?

The Care Act now allows family members to get paid for manging and administrating direct payments, again with the right support substantial savings can be made as management costs could be lowered for those who previously couldn’t have direct payments. Yet again nothing in this area.

The Act also allows for less monitoring, and actually says long term users, who have shown that they can manage their own direct payments should only get cursory checks. Our authority has done the opposite and in order to save money restrict people’s usage of their direct payments questioning everything.

There are many more areas that by supporting people to live independently authorities could make substantial savings that would improve people’s lives without adding but actually helping cut costs too. It seems to me that authorities don’t want to give choice and control, they want to be in charge and tell us what we can and can’t do. So where is the Care in the Care Act?

#Careact  #Socialservices   #Directpayments  #austerity #care  #duties