The number of older people in England without social care support has hit a record high, with one in seven now being left to get by on their own, figures reveal.
A record total of 1.4 million people over 65 now have some level of unmet need with tasks such as getting up, washed and dressed, according to an analysis of official statistics by AgeUK.
“Older people around the country are being very badly let down by the catastrophic lack of government funding for social care,” said Caroline Abrahams, Age UK’s charity director.
“Our new analysis echoes what we hear all around the country: it is getting ever harder to access care if you need it and increasing numbers of frail, ill, older people are being left to manage alone.
“It is profoundly shocking that 1.4 million older people, one in seven of the entire older population, now has some degree of unmet need, and the numbers are rising quite fast.”
At the same time, delayed discharges – patients trapped in hospital because social care is unavailable to allow them to be discharged – now costs the NHS in England £289.1m a year, Age UK estimates.
Full article from The Guardian, 9th July 2018