Nearly 35,000 elderly will get free nursing care
Long-Term Care
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Your support makes all the difference.Tens of thousands of pensioners will be "bitterly disappointed" by the Government's plans to make them continue to pay for basic personal care, such as help with bathing and eating, charities said yesterday.
Tens of thousands of pensioners will be "bitterly disappointed" by the Government's plans to make them continue to pay for basic personal care, such as help with bathing and eating, charities said yesterday.
A £1.3bn government plan to reform the long-term care system under the NHS plan would give 35,000 old people free nursing care. At present, medical care is means tested and costs an average of £337 a week.
However, charities that support the elderly said the Government had failed up to 125,000 old people living in care homes, especially those with long-term conditions such as Alzheimer's disease or arthritis, who would have to continue to pay for their social and personal care.
Harry Cayton, the chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said that the measures would make things worse for thousands of pensioners living in nursing or residential care homes. "We are extremely disappointed that the Government's narrow definition of nursing care will do nothing to end the current discrimination against people in care homes who will still have to pay for their own care," he said.
The new plan calls for personal and nursing care to be free for the first three months, after which residents would have their needs assessed by nursing staff to determine whether they were medical or personal.
"The proposal that people in care homes should have their nursing needs assessed will be costly and difficult to administer," Mr Cayton said. "Of most concern is that it could lead to the dangerous situation we see in America. There, nursing homes benefit financially if their clients are classed as dependent.
"This discourages independence and encourages treatments such as inappropriate tube feeding."
Almost 500,000 people are in long-term care accommodation in the UK and up to 150,000 are in nursing homes, with nearly one-quarter of them paying for their nursing care.
People with assets of more than £16,000 have to pay the full cost of their own care. Charities claim this forces more than 40,000 elderly people to sell their homes every year.
Under the new plans, the level of assets will be raised to more than £18,000 and linked to inflation. The Government said that will benefit about 20,000 people in residential care and nursing homes.
Elderly people will also no longer have to sell their homes as the Government has extended interest-free loans for their care fees.
Residents in care homes will be able to borrow money from the local authority, secured against the value of their homes, with the money being claimed back from the estate after they die.
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