Follow us @tchemagazine
Follow our page on Linkedin
News NCF responds to National Audit Office social care report
The National Care Forum has responded to the publication of the National Audit Office’s report Reforming adult social care in England. According to the National Audit Office, while the government’s 10-year vision for adult social care reform was broadly welcomed by the sector as a step forward, rising inflation has since compounded long- standing pressures and led the government to reprioritise money to provide local authorities and care providers with some ‘much-needed financial stability.’ Reforming adult social care in England found that the social care sector remains challenged by chronic workforce shortages, long waiting lists for care, and fragile finances, and that while there have been early signs of improvement in some of these, it remains to be seen whether these trends will continue and at what cost.
The report concludes that adult social care reform has been an ‘intractable political challenge for decades’ and that, having raised expectations that it would be addressed, the government now needs to demonstrate how it is delivering on these plans.
Vic Rayner, CEO of the NCF, which is the leading association for not-for-profit social care, said: “The National Audit Office has hit the nail on the head and highlighted that the government’s reform agenda is not the dynamic ‘fix’ the electorate was promised. The report confirms what many already knew – the majority of the reforms have been reprioritised with 58 per cent of the £1.7bn system reform money being reallocated and the entirety of the £3.6bn charging reforms being delayed until after a general election. Even after these reprioritisations, there has been desperately limited progress in other areas. The NAO report shows that funding to integrate and improve housing was scrapped, while funding for workforce measures was halved and progress on the workforce pathway and training,
learning and development offer apparently delayed, possibly until 2024. The report also lays bare the flaws of the fair cost of care exercises and contrary to evidence from our members, reveals that DHSC thinks that the exercises overstate the gap between what the state pays and the actual cost of providing care. “The report comes hot on the tail of Skills for Care analysis on workforce shortages, CQC exposure of care inequities, and CMO report on the risks of poor outcomes for an ageing society. In the face of this cumulative evidence, it is desperately disappointing to hear this independent analysis of how limited progress has been. “As we approach a general election, all political parties must recognise the value of good social care and support to our society and economy. The National Care Forum has a number of ‘must haves’ for the next government which we want to see appear in the party manifestos and which would push us in a more positive direction.” NCF policy director Liz Jones outlines what
the sector expects from a future government on p14 of this issue.
Longitude Prize on Dementia partners with Social Tech Trust
Social enterprise Challenge Works is partnering with social innovation charity Social Tech Trust to support teams competing for the Longitude Prize on Dementia.
The £4.34m Longitude Prize on Dementia, funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK, is incentivising the development of breakthrough assistive technologies for people living with dementia, with teams developing working prototypes of new tech to help people remain independent for longer. Twenty-four international teams are
developing solutions that use AI to learn about their users and adapt to help ‘fill the gaps’ as their cognitive function is progressively reduced. The solutions could help people to live independently for longer while maintaining fulfilling lives. Semi-finalists include AI-gamified software that promotes positive social
experiences to help delay decline in brain function (from Memory Lane Games), and biodynamic lighting and sensor systems that can ease symptoms of sundowning (from Chroma Lighting). Five finalists will be selected in Summer
2024. Social Tech Trust director Chris Blues said:
“Around 50 million people worldwide are living with dementia, including 900,000 in the UK. Tech has enormous power to help with many social challenges – including dementia,
which can devastate lives, causing people to lose their memory, identity and sadly, relationships. Supporting innovators with technical and data support to help refine their prototypes is the first step in using technology to ease the lives of those living with dementia.” Ruth Neale, programme manager for the Longitude Prize at Challenge Works, commented: “We’re excited to join forces with Social Tech Trust to provide semi- finalists in the Longitude Prize on Dementia with tailored technical and data support to develop their ideas into prototypes. The team at Social Tech Trust will provide a bespoke technology support package for our international cohort to drive high- quality tech products for the next stage of the competition. This is one element in the programme of capacity-building support that is being provided to teams in the next 12 months.”
January 2024
www.thecarehomeenvironment.com
9
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40
