No help here: incorrect and often illegal advice is major concern for older people with care needs

Citation

(2011), "No help here: incorrect and often illegal advice is major concern for older people with care needs", Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, Vol. 12 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/qaoa.2011.55912caa.006

No help here: incorrect and often illegal advice is major concern for older people with care needs

Article Type: News From: Quality in Ageing and Older Adults, Volume 12, Issue 3

Worries about older people being given incorrect and illegal advice by their local authority has become the emerging issue for Counsel and Care’s advice service in 2010, according to the “Care concerns 2010” report published recently (22 March 2011). The report is based on the over 250,000 older people, their families and carers who access Counsel and Care’s Advice Service a year via telephone, web site, guides and publications. This includes over 3,000 detailed cases supported directly by our Telephone Support Service.

Last year, an increasing amount of calls to Counsel and Care’s advice service were from families, carers and older people concerned about councils taking a “no help here” stance when asked for care assessments. People are being told that because funding is unavailable, that the older person cannot have an assessment, even though legally all older people are entitled to a care assessment by their local authority.

Everyone with a care need is entitled to an assessment by their local authority to ascertain what care they will need. The assessment does not mean that the Council will provide the care but it does provide a reassuring and objective picture of someone’s needs.

Enquirers’ main concerns in 2010 included:

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  Older people being given incorrect and often illegal advice by their Councils.

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  Unplanned hospital discharge, with social services not being involved in the process.

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  Councils not declaring a standard rate for care, and imposing “across the board” requests for third party top-ups from families.

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  More information about Counsel and Care can be obtained from: www.counselandcare.org.uk