Social care in England needs major improvement

July 4, 2016

Our research has found that people with Parkinson's and their carers in England aren't aware of their local council's information about social care, or even how to ask them for an assessment.

Concerns about care

Today (4 July) we launched our new report 'Caring about Parkinson's' which examines how social care is working for people with the condition and their carers in England. It found that:

• around a third of Parkinson's Local Advisers voiced concerns about the knowledge and understanding of Parkinson's among council staff who assess whether someone should receive social care
• no carer in our survey received access to preventative support, or respite care to help them manage their caring responsibilities
• around two thirds of local authorities that took part in our research didn't collect data about people with Parkinson's they had assessed

The findings are based on a survey of around 350 people with Parkinson's and carers in England, Freedom of Information requests to local councils as well as a survey of our Parkinson's Local Advisers, who help people apply for social care support and disability benefits.

More to do

It's also vital that both groups find the care system easy to understand and access.

Steve Ford

Parkinson's UK Chief Executive Steve Ford said:

"The report and its findings demonstrate that local authorities in England and the Department of Health have more to do to ensure that social care support is available for people with Parkinson's and carers."

In order to improve social care for people with Parkinson's and carers, we are encouraging local councils to ensure their social care staff have a good knowledge of Parkinson's.

We are asking the Department of Health to make sure people affected by Parkinson's are involved in their work to examine how well the Care Act (which provided new rights for people affected by Parkinson's in England who need social care) is working.

A person with Parkinson's explains:

"As I am 89 years old there seems to be an assumption that I am just another old lady who is beginning to develop dementia and general physical frailty.

No-one really seems to take much interest, nor even real awareness in the fact that I have Parkinson's"

http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/news/4-july-2016/social-care-england-needs-major-improvement