The Government and care sector continue to wrestle with the issue of long-term care provision?

This week has seen a number of important care sector-related announcements that suggest, for better or worse, that the issue of care provision now has a certain amount of momentum that it might not always be possible to treat in a controlled and measured way. The need to save some form of public confidence over the future of our crucial care services would certainly appear to be an overriding factor in the Coalition Government’s independent commission on care funding making a public statement this week to clarify its commitment to a long-term solution on care for an ageing demographic, with chairman Andrew Dilnot stating that failure ‘is not an option’. The commission is not actually due to report a solution for another six months, but this pressured announcement comes, not just from the growing anxiety surrounding public sector cuts, but also from last week’s accusation from leading care groups that the commission had ‘lost its way’.

As determined a statement as this would seem, other figures released this week only serve to highlight precisely how crucial a firm solution is. Research from healthcare analysts Laing & Buisson has shown that there has been no improvement in the number of elderly people having no choice but to sell off their assets or drain their savings in order to pay for care that asset-free people are entitled to receive for free – another statistic that highlights the unfairness of the ‘squeezed middle’ and calls into question the benefits of leading a hardworking life. While the Care Quality Commission has announced that one in five care homes are moving into a time of uncertain funding with only an ‘adequate’ rating, leading to speculation as to how these homes can possibly drive-up or even keep the same standards with less money (though it remains to be seen whether the CQC’s ratings system will indeed be maintained).

Elsewhere there are signs of innovation and pioneering work that, experts hope, will bring a breath of fresh air to an anxious climate. Some local authorities like Norfolk are, to their credit, at least acknowledging that the elderly population was a critical issue even before the shadow of cuts became obvious and are looking to trial more cost effective independent living methods that, if successful, can benefit a wider range of people. Though in contrast too many councils seem to only be discussing how best to implement cuts and closures, rather than looking to their intellect and the wider capabilities of the care sector.

Another interesting development is the announcement from the University of Bristol and the University of the West of England that, with the help of a European Union grant of £3.5m, scientists are attempting to develop robots that can help individuals with tasks such as the administering of medication – though the likelihood of such technology having a massive impact on the lives of the elderly has been met with as much derision as excitement amongst fellow scientists.

Such contradictions mean that it remains unclear whether feeling optimistic regarding the future of care under this new Government is yet the order of the day, but it is certain that the final announcement from this week that I mention will ensure that the issue does not leave the public eye, in the shape of the public inquiry that has been ordered into the numerous failures that occurred at Stafford Hospital and the ‘avoidable deaths’ of hundreds of patients.