Social care that aids elderly to receive

Health and social care services are to receive £5 billion of integration funding according to the latest statement from care and support government minister Norman Lamb. The new funds are set to improve social care and work alongside mobility aids in the home to help elderly and vulnerable residents maintain a good level of independence. 

Under the new funding, the British public will now receive integrated health and social care services in a move towards a better sense of pooled resources, which will aim to deliver a more effective and efficient provision of health and social care. It is hoped that this will ensure that patients feel less like they are being transferred from one service to another and more like these systems work as one succinct care service.

Better Care Fund

To make up the £5 billion that will provide a smoother transition between care systems for elderly stair lift users who benefit from both health care and at home social care, local authorities and clinical commissioning groups are to contribute funding to the government’s £3.8 billion Better Care Fund. This fund was formerly the Integration Transformation Fund, so called for its plans to integrate the two care systems in the country.

This single pooled budget will hopefully make health and social care services work more closely together in local communities as they share budget and have to communicate more regularly and effectively. Lamb said of the fund’s usage at the School for Social Care Research annual conference, as detailed in this Guardian article, that patients “don't make a distinction between health and social care” and that “This has to be the start of a shift towards a much greater pooling of resources”.

While this is an important step towards improving the state of services that particularly impact elderly people in the country, as they most use the two types of care simultaneously, it is also important to ensure that their home life is as comfortable as possible, achievable through the installation of home aids such as accessible walk in baths and showers to avoid falls and trips.

Image Credit: British Red Cross. (flickr.com)