Home News Columnists Ken Oxley

Social care funding should be like NHS

Oct 26 2008 by Ken Oxley, Sunday Sun

LAST month I wrote about the injustice of how social care is funded in this country . . . and not for the first time.

In fact, I’m aware that I’m beginning to sound like a broken record. Thankfully, however, I am not alone in recognising that the current system is complex, flawed and unfair.

Last week a social care watchdog issued a damning report calling for an end to the “postcode lottery” that allows councils to make funding decisions based on available finances, rather than a person’s actual requirements.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection says the current system is “confusing, scary and failing to meet people’s needs”.

In its report — Cutting the Cake Fairly — it calls for “a clear distinction between assessing a person’s needs and their financial means”.

I couldn’t agree more, but even this report — as hard-hitting as it is — doesn’t go far enough.

In my view, dementia sufferers unable to care for themselves should be automatically looked after by the NHS in the same way that people with physical conditions are.

The brain is, after all, just another organ. Yet when it malfunctions, local authorities see fit to strip people of their assets to fund their care. I can’t think of a more clear-cut example of injustice.

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