Cost of home care for elderly 'could soar by a third' (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Once again it is the elderly the disabled and the vulnerable having to pay the price for the actions of the useless bankers and the incompetence of our politicians. Reminds me of the old saying ‘the mark of a civilized society is the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens’.

"In Bradford the number of people getting free or partly funded care by the Council has increased, despite a significant fall in numbers nationally. In the district 830 people aged 65 or more made no contribution to the care they received in 2011/12 compared with 351 two years ago. The number of people who receive partial funding also increased in the two-year period from 1,156 to 2,008."
So those that pay £10.35 and being increased to £13.75 it is them that are paying for those that get it free or reduced.
A Robin Hood system?

And the council spent how much on the new fountain??

Traceyk2 wrote:
Once again it is the elderly the disabled and the vulnerable having to pay the price for the actions of the useless bankers and the incompetence of our politicians. Reminds me of the old saying ‘the mark of a civilized society is the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens’.

they aren't paying any price. Its means tested i.e. if you aint the means you can't pay, therefore an increase in the maximum the council can charge back, will only affect those who can afford it in the first place. If you walk into a home care agency off the street they will charge you about £12.50 for an hour, that's what they charge the council too. If some one gets funded on a direct payment by the council they get given £13.75 per hour of care. If they then take that to the home care shop and buy it for £12.50 they actually KEEP money in their pocket. Equally if the council is asked to arrange the care for someone, and they pay out the£13.75 to the person but only ask for £10.35, once the care has been arranged, back from the very same person, it's you the council resident who is picking up the £3.40 per person per hour.
Stop and think about what you blurt out on here for once. With increases of over 30,000 people needing care over the next 5 years and £60m less to spend, you do the maths, you decide if the district can afford to pay out £3 per hour more than it needs to. So once again it aint the 'elderly disabled and vulnerable paying the price' if they can't afford to pay in the first place, they still won't. What about a retired millionaire sitting in their £1m pad in Ilkley only having to contribute a maximum of £199 towards their care - still think its unfair??

What about the people just above the means tested level those in the middle who are always hit but are not what you would call wealthy. The millionaire in Ilkley will probably have hidden some of his/her assets in an offshore account and be paying his/her carer the minimum wage. The elderly and vulnerable also have to pay 20 percent VAT just like the millionaire do you think that is unfair?

On the same page of the T & A today where this news was printed, there was also a report "highlighting needs of the elderly Muslims". The demands in this report on behalf of the Muslims state that "Muslim care are homes designed by themselves, with halal food. Muslim staff, places to pray and men and woman separated. Dr.Mohammed Salem chairman of COEMO (Consortia of Ethnic Minority Organisations) said quote "we hope stakeholders will look at this report and find long term solutions". Not being a racist but my instincts tell me that the elderly of Bradford are going to be in a two tier system in the future and the minorities look like they will be getting the better deal. How does this work please?

Yorkshire Lass wrote:
On the same page of the T & A today where this news was printed, there was also a report "highlighting needs of the elderly Muslims". The demands in this report on behalf of the Muslims state that "Muslim care are homes designed by themselves, with halal food. Muslim staff, places to pray and men and woman separated. Dr.Mohammed Salem chairman of COEMO (Consortia of Ethnic Minority Organisations) said quote "we hope stakeholders will look at this report and find long term solutions". Not being a racist but my instincts tell me that the elderly of Bradford are going to be in a two tier system in the future and the minorities look like they will be getting the better deal. How does this work please?

Not intergration is it.
Oh it might be, how you ask, well we will end up with all complying with the muslim requirements. You will have halal food and go to prayers etc.
as above demands.

I think we need to be careful when making comments about what other people of whatever faith, belief or culture make.

If people want to be looked after where they choose what to it the kinds of food they like thats great.
the key issue is that people are not happy with the care system at present, and seems that everyone has been let down.

Let people choose what they want, as long as we get a high level of service to meet our needs who cares

A few months ago, I told you Incommunities had sacked all their wardens/aid workers. That they (residents) were to introduce a means controlled scheme whereby they chose what they wanted and of course have to pay for it. Then the council found by - would you believe it - a mistake in their BASIC MATHEMATICS that they had over paid VAT. This error gave them about three million pounds. So adapt were they that on that Friday they gave Incommunities a quick £1.2m. Now the aged are once again going to be hit by the most ineffective set of blundering incompetents I have ever heard of. I regret to say that is was the Bradford British apathy that allowed these culprits into power. God help us!

A few months ago, I told you Incommunities had sacked all their wardens/aid workers. That they (residents) were to introduce a means controlled scheme whereby they chose what they wanted and of course have to pay for it. Then the council found by - would you believe it - a mistake in their BASIC MATHEMATICS that they had over paid VAT. This error gave them about three million pounds. So adapt were they that on that Friday they gave Incommunities a quick £1.2m. Now the aged are once again going to be hit by the most ineffective set of blundering incompetents I have ever heard of. I regret to say that is was the Bradford British apathy that allowed these culprits into power. God help us!

Bradfordlegends wrote:
I think we need to be careful when making comments about what other people of whatever faith, belief or culture make.

If people want to be looked after where they choose what to it the kinds of food they like thats great.
the key issue is that people are not happy with the care system at present, and seems that everyone has been let down.

Let people choose what they want, as long as we get a high level of service to meet our needs who cares

I agree with these comments but unfortunately it is very one sided. People are always going to get old and who is to know what illnesses they may have in their old age? No one can forecast what facilities any of us will need but yes, the best would be brilliant, but on paper this just will not happen unless you can pay for it. Its alright saying let people choose what they want but this does not happen at the moment.

SmudgeXVI wrote:
A few months ago, I told you Incommunities had sacked all their wardens/aid workers. That they (residents) were to introduce a means controlled scheme whereby they chose what they wanted and of course have to pay for it. Then the council found by - would you believe it - a mistake in their BASIC MATHEMATICS that they had over paid VAT. This error gave them about three million pounds. So adapt were they that on that Friday they gave Incommunities a quick £1.2m. Now the aged are once again going to be hit by the most ineffective set of blundering incompetents I have ever heard of. I regret to say that is was the Bradford British apathy that allowed these culprits into power. God help us!

This is true but unfortunately Incommunities have not re-instated the care workers. By the way, the tenants did pay towards this service so it wasn't exactly "free" but received a letter telling them about it without any consultation. The wardens'/care workers were a valuable help for the vulnerable.

Yorkshire Lass wrote:
On the same page of the T & A today where this news was printed, there was also a report "highlighting needs of the elderly Muslims". The demands in this report on behalf of the Muslims state that "Muslim care are homes designed by themselves, with halal food. Muslim staff, places to pray and men and woman separated. Dr.Mohammed Salem chairman of COEMO (Consortia of Ethnic Minority Organisations) said quote "we hope stakeholders will look at this report and find long term solutions". Not being a racist but my instincts tell me that the elderly of Bradford are going to be in a two tier system in the future and the minorities look like they will be getting the better deal. How does this work please?

I work for a care agency based in Shipley and see first hand that we already have a two tier system working in favour of the 'minorities'. How can it be fair that, a 'minority' family can purchase over 64hrs a week of homecare services through direct payments, to care for 2 disabled sisters that are disabled simple because of interbreeding-FACT. And the payments don't end there. It's a big family with 2 parents at home all day, an elder brother and sister (with no disabilities) at home all day and there are 4 teenage girls who attend school and whos' parents still live abroard. The disabled sisters have a house each, both paid for by the council, but they actually both live together with Mum and Dad and the teenage girls. The other house is lived in by the elder brother and sister and her husband, who came to our country about a year ago. One of the disabled sisters doesn't go out of the house at all although she can walk. The other sister is wheelchair bound and has transport, provided and paid for by the council, to take her to a resource centre 5 days a week also paid for by the council. The family receive money every 3 years to purchase a disability car which seems to be predominantly used to ferry the teenage girls around or to do the shopping, it's a very nice 4 door saloon car-I often wonder how they can get a fixed support wheelchair in it though?? Then I see a British lady who lives on her own and has secondary cancer. She has one daughter who is a single parent to 2 children both under 10 and who works full time as well as cares for her mother. The lady has been assessed as only needing one half an hour call every morning (approx £12) to assist with washing/showering, wound care, breakfast, making up a lunch, preparing/taking medication and anything else that she may need for the day. Or the elderly gentleman who has dementia and can't remember my name each day (even though I go every day and have done for over two years apart from my holiday time) who lives with his son who has a limited life expectancy himself because he has HIV. The gentleman has a half hour call every morning (approx £12) to assist with washing /showering meds and breakfast his son isn't entitled to any help at all. The agency I work for has been requesting Social Services and the council to lengthened their calls to at least an hour so more time can be given to the lady and gentleman themselves. Guess how long we've been waiting to hear....15 months and still counting.