I have just read a critique of the Care Act , by Rachael Byrne (Executive Director, Care and Support, Home Group) published on the Housing LIN website. It is concise, and clearly expresses the writer’s frustration, anger and fears for the future.
Her major fear is that the Care Act has ‘the intention to formally ration access to social care’ , the principle reason being ‘that the threshold for those requiring care is to be set at the equivalent to substantial and not moderate’. She also fears that the closer integration of NHS and Social Care services will not be achieved, rather quite the reverse, due to the burden of deficit reduction imposed especially on the NHS; she refers to ‘the accounting insanity that pervades in this era of austerity’.
The writer describes her current ‘role’: “we provide care and support to 30,000 vulnerable clients a year, 80% of that work is preventative avoiding hospital, returning to custody, escape from a violent situation, managing their mental health in community provision, the list goes on, and why is that important? Because needs in many circumstances would be deemed moderate”.
She is clearly angry but determined (“We beat on boats against the current”, quoting F. Scott Fitzgerald), and this article deserves to be read closely. We assume Rachael will be submitting her arguments and analysis to the Care Act consultation process which is currently ongoing.