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On 6 October 2021, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson spoke at the Conservative Party Conference, acknowledging that the social care crisis and the unfairness in the way people with dementia are supported, compared to other health conditions.
Fiona Carragher, Director of Research and Influencing, responded to Johnson’s speech:
‘We’re pleased to hear the Prime Minister acknowledge the horrendous struggles people affected by dementia, the majority of those using social care, have battled with for far too long.
‘The pandemic has laid bare the urgent need for social care reform. We need to draw a line in the sand after the past 18 months, seeing the Government take urgent steps to shake up the system to provide the best quality care and support now and in years to come.
‘We look forward to seeing in more detail the investment and arrival of new technology to bring health and social care together, but this should be seen as a tool and not the solution.
Funding reforms are also a positive step forward, but we risk the system collapsing if we wait until this cash injection arrives in 2023.
‘We must see an absolute minimum of £3.9bn per year in the Comprehensive Spending Review and a clear timetable for delivery of long-term reform, so we aren’t letting down the 850,000 people with dementia and their families.’
Recent news headlines have reported dementia is the leading cause of death in the UK.
Dr Clare Walton from the Alzheimer’s Society research team looked at the reasons why deaths from dementia are on the rise and how the numbers compare with deaths due to other major diseases.
The latest death statistics for England and Wales, released by The Office for National Statistics (ONS), showed the number of people dying of dementia is steadily increasing year on year.
In contrast, the number of people dying from heart disease and stroke has been declining. In 2015, dementia overtook heart disease and stroke as the UK’s biggest cause of death. The percentage of all UK deaths from the top four leading causes in 2017 were dementia, heart disease, stroke and lung cancer.
National Insurance will be increased to pay for care, with new asset thresholds determining how much people pay and a cap on how much people will have to spend during their lifetimes.
Boris Johnson has announced a major shake-up of social care funding in England.
A hike in National Insurance will pay for a pledge made when Mr Johnson became prime minister in 2019 to “fix the broken care system”. However, this means he will be breaking his promise to not raise taxes, which has angered Tory backbenchers. Mr Johnson said he was unable to keep that promise due to the COVID pandemic.
What are the changes to social care?
Social care supports the elderly and disabled adults of all ages with non-clinical needs in people’s own homes, residential care homes or in places such as day centres or supported housing.
Unlike the NHS, it has no dedicated funding and is paid for through local authorities.
The reforms will see a threshold of £100,000 on the amount of assets a person has before they have to fully fund their own care. Currently, the threshold is £23,250. From October 2023, anybody with financial assets lower than £20,000 will not have to pay anything for their care from their assets – but may have to contribute towards costs from their income. The amount anyone with assets between £20,000 and £100,000 will pay will be means-tested so the fewer financial assets someone has the less they will pay for their care. The amount anyone has to spend on care will be capped at £86,000 over their lifetime – including younger people receiving care.
At least £500m will be invested over three years to train care workers and provide professional development, fund mental health resources for staff and reform the social recruitment situation. Further detail on that will be published soon. The government has also promised to support the 5.4m unpaid carers, invest in the disabled facilities grant and supported housing, improve information to help understand options for care users and introduce a support system to ensure local authorities are delivering on their obligations to users.
The changes to social care only apply to England, but because tax changes apply to all four nations, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales will also see a rise in National Insurance payments. Mr Johnson said the devolved nations will together receive an extra £2.2bn a year towards health and social care – 15% more than they would from contributions by their citizens alone. A total of £1.1bn will go to Scotland in 2024-25, £700m to Wales and £400m on Northern Ireland.
To read more visit the Skynews website.
Dementia not Covid-19 was the greatest cause of death for women in 2020 – killing 45,922 women in England and Wales, official figures reveal.
Some 125 women are dying of dementia every day – that’s five women an hour, according to the Office for National Statistics.
In men, Covid caused the most deaths for men in England and Wales, followed by heart disease, after which dementia and Alzheimer’s disease came third by claiming the lives of over 24,000 men.
In the UK, dementia affects 850,000 people and there is no cure.
The number of people with dementia is set to triple in three decades, with 152 million estimated to be affected globally by 2050, according to research by the University of Washington School of Medicine.
The research was presented at the 2021 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference in Colorado at the end of July.
Dementia charities are calling for global action to fund research into a cure for dementia.
Hilary Evans, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Research UK has called dementia “our greatest long-term medical challenge”.
“With the number of people with dementia set to triple, we need to see concerted global action now.
“To safeguard progress and improve outcomes around the world, it’s vital our government invests to maintain the UK as a global hub for dementia research to safeguard research progress and improve outcomes around the world.”
This story was provided by homecare.co.uk
