Care group hits out at White Paper (From York Press)

Care group hits out at White Paper

8:17am Friday 13th July 2012 in Health & Wellbeing

A CARE group based in York and North Yorkshire has branded the Government’s new social care White Paper a “wasted opportunity.”

The Independent Care Group (York and North Yorkshire) which represents independent care providers, claimed ministers had had an opportunity to make a real difference to the lives of older and vulnerable people, but failed to address funding challenges facing the sector.

The group said it applauded proposals designed to make councils offer care to all those who need it, ending the so-called postcode lottery.

But the group’s chairman, Mike Padgham, said: “The huge, glaring omission from the White Paper is how, as a country, we are going to fund social care in the coming years. “At the moment, more and more people are needing ever more complex care, whether that is in a care home or in their own home.

But there is not sufficient money in the system to pay for that care and older and vulnerable people are either going without the care they need or being forced to sell their home to afford it.”