2nd March 2010
A Daily Mail investigation has revealed the extent to which care
home funding depends on the area elderly residents live in.
Figures show that some councils are three times more likely to
help pay care home fees for OAPS than others.
Pensioners who receive no financial assistance with nursing fees
are being forced to plunder their savings and even sell their
homes. But the investigation found that things could be very
different if the person merely lived in a neighbouring
district.
The findings showed it wasn't just wealthier areas - whose
residents are more likely to be ineligible for free care - that
were failing to provide funding for care home places. One of the
poorest areas in the UK, Halton in Cheshire, funds fewer care home
places than comparatively richer areas such as Windsor and
Oxfordshire.
Overall, the number of people having their care home fees paid
for has plummeted by 16%.
Hull funds the most care home places, with 37.9 places paid for
per 1,000 pensioners. While Poole boasts the worst stats of 12.5
places funded per 1,000 - more than three times less than Hull.
Among the councils in wealthier areas, Wokingham pays for the
residential care of only 12.9 per 1,000 people, but this jumps to
28.3 per 1,000 people in the City of London.
Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said last night: "The
social care system in this country is in complete disarray and not
fit for purpose.
"It's clear from these figures that elderly people are at the
mercy of a cruel postcode lottery. Local authorities' budgets may
be already stretched but they have a fundamental duty to ensure
that elderly people get the support they need."
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