‘Adult social care in England under stress and strain'

The chief inspector of adult social care in England has highlighted the plight and abuses the British elderly population is experiencing while in social care services.  

Andrea Sutcliffe blames funding cuts and poor leadership for worsening condition at adult social care. Sutcliffe said carers are undermining their works largely because of funding cuts that have put them under “stress and strain”.

The other faulty reasons according to the chief inspector are the ever-increasing numbers of people who need care and support. “That potentially means that they may leave, and we do see turnover, but it also may mean that they end up being the sort of care worker that you wouldn’t want them to be because the system around them isn’t supportive,” she said.

'Abuse of vulnerable adults'

The warning comes amid new figures showing some 150 allegations of adult abuse every day. According to the data, there were some 30,000 allegations of abuse at social care this year, so far. Allegations range from physical, emotional and sexual abuse, to financial fraud. A majority of abusers are reportedly professional carers.   

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham has criticized the government saying “the figures expose the failing system of care for older, disabled and vulnerable people in England”.

“Care workers are people who are instinctively helpful and responsible, they reach to serve others. But the reality is that they have the lowest possible wage levels and at the same time the amount of work they have to do has reached the levels occasioning extreme stress. They are being unfairly stressed as a result of what is an overall financial one-third cutback”, Rodney Shakespeare, a London-based professor of economic told Press TV .

'Government responsibility'

Sutcliffe has urged ministers and local politicians to take the issue seriously to make the social care sector safe and dynamic. “There is an important responsibility in the role of those funding care – local authorities or clinical commissioning groups – to really understand what the true cost of care is, what true quality looks like and to make sure they are commissioning services that meet those standards,” she said.

But some analysts say politicians are not actually addressing the matter because of the reason that all of them are controlled by an outdated economic paradigm.

“While the [economic] paradigm works, they are not concerned  about production, they are only concerned about effectively taxing the whole population largely via the mechanism of interests, shifting wealth up to the 1%. They are not able to address the failings because they are in the economic paradigm and as a result they have no understanding that it is in fact possible to create enough wealth for basic services and this must be done at a time when these elderly people are increasing”, Shakespeare said.

He said that the government policy is affecting both distressed social workers as well as those at receiving ends.

“These are distress of the social workers who are underpaid and overworked and those who are on [at] the receiving end, of course, patients, all of whom or none of whom are really in a position to defend themselves. It won’t be very long before that economic paradigm collapses and then Alas! there will be even more stress among social workers and even more abuse of those on receiving end”  Shakespeare concluded.         

'Welfare cuts'

The previous coalition government was under fire for slashing social care budgets and the trend seems to be continuing under the current government that has recently announced welfare cuts worth billions of pounds. According to the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, £4.6bn or 31% of overall social care budget has been cut since 2010. It says the social care councils are currently facing a shortfall of over £1bn.

Social sector officials have also warned that Chancellor George Osborne’s decision to raise the minimum wage to £7.20 an hour, and £9 by 2020, will only add to the crisis by increasing the cost of delivering care.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir