Long-term Care and Government Funding

One of this morning’s Daily Telegraph front page headlines is “Care Funding Crisis on Back Burner” and of course is referring to yesterday’s Queen’s Speech.

It’s true it is on the back burner and of course as a problem for the Government the funding of long term care must look like a bottomless pit.

I would like us to start a debate amongst ourselves about what might be done to help to alleviate this particular financial challenge.

My thoughts are many and mixed and might be a starting point for our discussions.

How can any Government make decisions when they do not appear to know the real cost of the provision of care i.e.

• We know what it costs by area to keep a person in a care home if they are funded by the State.

• Do we know what it costs for a person to live and receive care at home? (when I say this I mean all the costs including housing benefits etc)

Has the Government looked at other Countries models?

Do we know anything about models that seem to work?

Does the Government need to make plans to address:

• The short term

• The medium term

• The long term

I would be really pleased to hear from anyone interested in this and if we manage to generate enough debate and good ideas we will prepare a paper which we will send to the government and circulate widely.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Sheila

You are welcome to email me privately at my office address: info@nationalcareassociation.org.uk