Newspaper Articles

Echo artilce on our aging society

We are living in an aging society. Demographic trends point to more people living for longer. Advances in medical science, improvements in our health and increased economic well-being mean that we will live for longer. But this presents us with a challenge as we will need to redesign our public services to meet the needs of an aging society. I have mentioned in this column before about the work that Hampshire County Council is doing in this area. Obviously, we want older people to live healthy and happy lives, but we are conscious that as people live for longer they will have more complex health and care needs as they have to cope with increased frailty.

There has been a change in how we tackle these issues in recent years. Increasingly, the emphasis is on encouraging people to live independently for as long as possible. Nursing homes are very expensive and enabling people to live at home can help reduce costs as well as maintain the dignity that comes from independent living.

The Government were in the midst of doing a serious piece of work looking at the challenges of keeping people in their homes but seem to have short-circuited their review by announcing new plans for free care at home which have come in for criticism from all parties. Labour peers have criticised the plans as an “exocet” on social care reform. MPs and care groups have described the plans as uncosted.

Apparently, the cost of the scheme is meant to be paid for through savings in the health budget and from efficiency savings in council budgets. It is not clear where savings will be made in the health budget but it is suggested that there will be cuts in medical research to fund some of this spending.

Last week, local council chiefs appeared before the Health Select Committee to be quizzed by MPs about the Government’s plans and their funding. Cllr Ken Thornber, the Leader of Hampshire County Council, gave evidence on behalf of local authorities, but also told the committee about the impact on Hampshire council taxpayers. He thought it could mean an increase in council tax bills of up to £20 per household per year because the council was already making efficiency savings to balance the books. Any additional burdens mean increased council tax bills. There was a similar message from Essex County Council’s director of adult social care.

It shows just how ill-thought through this measure is when the bill being put through parliament to introduce this contentious reform is just two pages long. This compares to the bill I am doing at the moment which is nearly 70 pages long. It would be unkind to suggest that the bill is written on the back of a cigarette packet, but we are not far off.

Care in an aging society is an important issue and the quality and nature of care for the elderly is an important part of a civilised society. My concern is that the Government’s plans are half-baked and are more about headlines than substantial reforms.