Age UK warns that cuts have left care for the elderly in ‘crisis’
December 29, 2011
Posted by:Ruth Hewitt
The country’s leading charity for older people has warned that social care for the elderly faces an “absolute crisis” as a result of cuts to services.
Age UK (formerly Help the Aged and Age Concern) claims that an increasing number of elderly people with considerable care needs are not getting any support, or are being provided with poor or limited support, due to cuts to local authority provision. Michelle Mitchell, the director of Age UK, cited cases in which older people who were unable to undress themselves were being put to bed at 5pm and left until 10am the next day.
The cuts to social care for the elderly are amidst rises to fuel and food costs, which means that pensioners’ resources are already stretched. Age UK says 1.8 million pensioners live beneath the poverty line, and 1 million of them live in “severe poverty".
The failure to provide necessary care to the elderly in the community may have contributed to an increase in admissions to hospital via Accident and Emergency departments. The charity argues that this in itself is expensive for the taxpayer. Age UK has cited research which has shown that in 2012 nearly 900,000 older people needing significant care will not receive the assistance they need. Michelle Mitchell said "This means people will deteriorate more quickly and go into hospital.” If this prediction is correct then it seems that cuts to social care for the elderly may in fact prove more expensive for the taxpayer, and sadly elderly people may suffer as a result.