Last Updated on February 24, 2016
Britain is facing a social care time bomb with thousands of people under-prepared to look after themselves in old age, according to a poll conducted for the Astellas Innovation Debate. Experts say the knock-on effect of lack of planning for later life will further impact upon stretched NHS resources.
Results from the survey have demonstrated how people are still not preparing financially for residential care in older age, with over two-thirds (68%) of people questioned saying they are expecting the Government to fund high quality residential care in later life.
Despite only 21% believing elderly residential care will actually be provided by the State when they need it, people admit that they are not planning to pay for care themselves. One in eight are expecting their children to cover the costs and 30% would be willing to accept lower quality state social care. Just 10% said they would use a private insurance policy to pay for care home bills.
Experts say the knock-on effect of this lack of planning will only add further pressure to the current adult social care system, as well as send ripples right across the NHS. Former Government Health Minister and MP, the Rt Hon Paul Burstow commented, ‘The NHS can only be sustainable if there is a functioning social care system too. Hospitals sit in a complex and increasingly fragile ecology. The poll for the debate reveals a worrying fatalism about the state of social care. A bankrupt care system will undermine the NHS.’
Current shortages in elderly care cost the NHS £669m according to an Age UK study. In October 2015, the number of bed days lost due to delayed transfer of care peaked at 160,094 leading to NHS England Chief Executive, Simon Stevens, calling for an urgent political consensus on paying for elderly and social care earlier this year.
With the number of people aged 85 or over projected to almost double in the next 20 years, the current system pressures are only set to increase. Sir David Nicholson, former Chief Executive of the NHS commented, ‘The NHS and social care are two sides of the same coin one cannot be successful at the cost of the other. People do not fit into bureaucratic compartments and neither should funding.’
The survey also revealed a significant lack of awareness among the general public about the cost of health and social care. Almost a third (29%) of those surveyed thought a day in a residential care home costs less than £70 per day when the actual cost averages at approximately £97 per day, with some nursing homes charging up to £128. The findings follow a Government announcement that a pledge to cap residential care costs at £72,000 per person has been pushed back to 2020.
How the NHS - and other global health systems - are planning to meet the increasing demand on services caused by the growth in our ageing population is the theme for this year’s Astellas Innovation Debate entitled, Situation Critical.
As part of this year’s debate, the organisation has created a new animated film which explores the relationship between ageing and healthcare costs – looking at the impact a single family has on the UK system. The film is available online here. For more information on the Innovation Debate, visit www.innovationdebate.com Alternatively, you can follow the debate on Twitter via @AstellasINNOV8 or join in the conversation at #innovatedebate
Full references for this news story are available here.