One in five firms see risk of financial failure in next six months due to sums owed by NHS and councils
Dozens of home care companies in England fear collapse because invoices are going unpaid by councils and the NHS.
Hundreds of millions of pounds in unpaid bills are threatening parts of a care industry already stretched by a recruitment crisis and rising wages, according to research by the Institute of Health and Social Care Management (IHSCM).
Continue reading...HC-One employed nurse at Tower Bridge Care Centre, which was found to be ‘not safe’ by inspectors
One of Britain’s biggest care home companies employed an 80-year-old senior nurse in a short-staffed care home who was older than some residents and not strong enough to help lift them.
HC-One employed the octogenarian at Tower Bridge Care Centre, which was found by inspectors to be “inadequate” and “not safe”, in a case that highlights a chronic shortage of care workers across the UK.
Continue reading...Shocking figures gathered by the Observer show social care provision is dictated by money, not need
New children’s care homes are being disproportionately placed in cheaper and more deprived parts of England, according to an Observer investigation. .
Over the past five years the number of children’s care homes located in areas with the cheapest house sale prices has risen almost three times faster than in the most expensive places. Among the regions with big increases in homes was the north-west, including in parts of Blackpool and Burnley and other northern cities such as Bradford. Children’s services directors warned that the trends were driven by the “blatant profiteering” of private care providers, targeting cheap housing and local labour.
Continue reading...Children are being left in limbo so long that they are at risk of harm, social workers warn
Lone child asylum seekers are facing fivefold increases in delays in having their claims processed by the Home Office, with devastating consequences, according to a new report.
Social workers, legal professionals and the children themselves have warned that the impact of being left in limbo about their future for so long includes the risk of suicide, self-harm and persistent insomnia.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie.
Continue reading...They came to fill gaps in a sector desperate for staff. Now an Observer investigation finds Indian nurses stuck in debt and despair, and wounded by broken promises
Nurses hired from abroad to work for one of Britain’s biggest social care chains have been left in debt and are in some cases suicidal after being stranded without pay for months.
They have also been paid lower wages than they were told they would receive and were in some cases given false promises about their accommodation and employment terms, an Observer investigation has found.
Continue reading...Anika Wells says taskforce will include consideration of levies but government ‘still not advocating any particular proposal’
The aged care minister, Anika Wells, says Australians want more “choice” on aged care and would be prepared to pay for it, as the government mulls the introduction of a user-pays system.
Wells told ABC’s Insiders the Albanese government’s position on aged care was consistent, playing down calls for a levy before the election because it was “still not advocating any particular proposal”, merely establishing a taskforce which will consider how to make aged care sustainable.
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Continue reading...Census data shows nearly half a million households that cater for someone disabled or in bad health are without car or truck
About one in five households with an unpaid carer for someone who is disabled or in bad health across England and Wales have no access to a private vehicle, new analysis shows.
The findings show that nearly half a million households across England and Wales (486,341) that include someone disabled or in bad health did not have a car or truck at the time of the 2021 census.
Continue reading...Ibrahim Faraj, seven, was abducted and taken to Saudi Arabia in November
A woman whose seven-year-old son was kidnapped by his father and taken to Saudi Arabia has said she repeatedly warned authorities it would happen but “no one listened”.
Ranem Elkhalidi has not seen or spoken to Ibrahim Faraj since November, when he was abducted by his father, Hamzah Faraj, in breach of a court order.
Continue reading...Report raises concerns about near 23% rise in children in care over 10 years amid serious shortage of social workers
Radical reforms to the care system in Wales are needed to address a “shocking” rise in the number of looked after children, a Welsh parliament committee has concluded.
The committee said the number of children in care was up by almost 23% since 2013 while at the same time there were shortages of qualified social workers.
Continue reading...Move comes after inquiry found children had faced ‘limitless’ cruelty with complicity of institutions
The government is to launch a compensation scheme for survivors of child sexual abuse in England, the home secretary has said.
The scheme is in response to the findings of a seven-year inquiry that revealed failings by schools, local authorities and other institutions to protect and safeguard the children in their care.
Continue reading...Co-author says UK’s oldest form of social housing could be part of solution to care crisis
Poor, older people living in almshouses enjoy longer lives than far wealthier people living elsewhere, a study has found.
The secret to longer life has been intensely sought after for centuries. But research using data from almshouses going back 100 years has found that the solution devised in early medieval times to help poverty-stricken knights returning from the Crusades is still relevant today.
Continue reading...Charity says number of potential victims identified via helpline more than doubled last year
The number of potential victims of modern slavery in the UK more than doubled to record levels last year, with a particularly sharp increase in alleged exploitation in the care sector, figures show.
Calls to the UK modern slavery helpline identified 6,516 potential victims last year, an increase of 116% from 2021, according to the figures from the anti-slavery charity Unseen. It said the potential victims included 173 children.
Continue reading...Alzheimer’s Society says fear and confusion delays discussion for 33% of those who think they or a loved one may have dementia
A third of Britons who have concerns about whether they, or a loved one, might have dementia wait more than a month to discuss their worries with others, a leading charity has found, despite early diagnosis being important for treatment, support and planning.
According to the World Health Organization, more than 55 million people have dementia worldwide, with 60-70% of cases thought to be down to Alzheimer disease.
Continue reading...Survey also reveals nine out of 10 older people believe there are not enough care staff in the country
Trust in care homes has slumped, leaving half of the British public lacking confidence that friends or family would be well looked after.
Nationwide polling for the Guardian revealed nine out of 10 older people believe there are not enough care staff, and half have lost confidence in the standard of care homes since the start of the pandemic.
Continue reading...Inspectors find lack of trained staff at Reigate Grange and medicines not being administered properly
A £2,400-a-week care home where staff were secretly filmed abusing 88-year-old Ann King is still breaking Care Act regulations despite a public outcry over her treatment.
Recent inspections of Reigate Grange revealed there were still not enough trained staff, medicines were not being administered properly and the home to 74 people was “not always safe” and “not always well led”. The “luxury” home is marketed as offering the “highest possible standards of assisted living with the best possible care”.
Continue reading...Local government ombudsman rules that delay in finding suitable accommodation for family caused serious health risks
A severely disabled child missed out on vital NHS surgery and was left in chronic pain for more than three years because a council failed to move them out of unsuitable housing despite repeated pleas from health professionals, a watchdog has ruled.
Lambeth council in London was fined £20,000 by the local government and social care ombudsman for a catalogue of service failures and administrative errors that left the child unsafe and in “significant and avoidable distress” and her mother at risk of serious injury.
Child Y’s constant pain, requiring injections and medication, could be relieved only through surgery, yet this was being delayed because the unsuitability of the family’s home meant Child Y could not safely return after an operation.
Sitting in the wheelchair for long periods caused so much pain that Child Y’s school had bought a specialist bed in which they would be wheeled around the school to ensure they could access lessons.
At home, Child Y and her mother were at risk of injury from manual handling because they were unable to use proper equipment. Because of the lack of space, Child Y could not be positioned properly for eating and was at risk of choking.
Continue reading...Charities and disability campaigners say chancellor’s proposals set out in his budget more ‘stick than carrot’
Up to 1 million people currently claiming incapacity benefits could lose hundreds of pounds a month as a result of plans outlined in the budget to push ahead with the “biggest reforms to the welfare system in a decade,” experts have said.
The warning came as ministers unveiled a range of measures to try to drive more people back into the workplace, including scrapping controversial “fit for work” tests for disabled claimants and stepping up the threat of benefit sanctions against part-time workers.
Continue reading...Minister for women and equalities dismisses suggestion government should pilot menopause leave for women
PMQs is about to start.
Sammy Wilson, the DUP’s chief whip, has said that he thinks the Stormont brake – the mechanism at the heart of Rishi Sunak’s deal to revise the Northern Ireland protocol – will turn out to be “fairly ineffective”.
Let’s not underestimate the fact that when the EU introduces new laws in the future, it will have an impact on Northern Ireland. And the point of the brake was meant to be to give a means for unionists to oppose that. I think it will have to be used on lots of occasions, though I suspect to be fairly ineffective.
As long as it takes us to get, first of all, the analysis, and secondly, the answers from the government, before we make that decision, that’s the time we’ll take.
But the one thing I’ll say to you is that we will not have a knee-jerk reaction to this deal. It means too much to us. And we have got to give it real consideration.
Continue reading...Changes in children’s social care, including earlier help for families, fall short of ‘full reset’ called for by adviser
Ministers are to pledge that children taken into care in England will be placed close to their family and friends rather than being housed hundreds of miles away, under what is described as an ambitious overhaul of the struggling social services system.
The commitment on care placements is one of a series of proposals aimed at reforming what the government has acknowledged is a children’s social care system too often failing to meet the needs of vulnerable families and children.
Continue reading...Experts warn plan does not address staff vacancies and £1bn fund pledged is not new money
Rishi Sunak will vow to rapidly slash long waiting times for urgent NHS care with a promise of thousands more beds, 800 new ambulances and an expansion of community care backed by a dedicated fund of £1bn.
The health service is engulfed in its worst-ever crisis, with urgent and emergency care in particular under unprecedented pressure in recent months. The prime minister will describe his blueprint for resolving the problems as “ambitious and credible”.
Continue reading...