Archive for May, 2009

Can shake-up of social care survive the recession?
By Jennifer and Paul Roberts
www.caringforyourbusiness.co.uk
As the countdown begins for the launch of the Government’s long-awaited social care Green Paper, clues as to whether calls for a radical shake-up will be backed up by substantial new investment have started to emerge.
David Behan, the Department of Health’s Director General of [...]

The ordinary people who suffer while MPs join the ‘gravy train’
Expenses scandal: The betrayal that shocked us all
By Paul Roberts
www.caringforyourbusiness.co.uk
 
Suzanne is an unpaid carer of an elderly mother struggling to cope with dementia. Between 6am and 8am, Suzanne helps to feed and dress her 83-year-old mother before leaving home to walk to work at a [...]

Yes to personalisation of care – but not at any price
 
By Paul and Jennifer Roberts
www.caringforyourbusiness.co.uk
 
As the drive towards personalisation of care gathers momentum, new figures on people receiving personal budgets have been unveiled.
A total of 93,000 were receiving personal budgets in England by the end of March this year, according to a survey by the [...]

Social Care Green Paper: a toothless tiger or key to the future?
By Paul Roberts
www.caringforyourbusiness.co.uk
 
Will a major new ‘blue-print’ for England’s care and support system be the key to the development of future services – or will it be a ‘toothless tiger’?
The countdown has begun for the unveiling of the Government’s Social Care Green Paper, due [...]

Time running out for online homecare auctions
By Jennifer Roberts
www.caringforyourbusiness.co.uk
 
Scotland appears to have taken the first step to end local authority online bidding auctions for homecare contracts.
 
Holyrood’s Local Government Committee is to look into the controversial practice following Panorama’s undercover investigation of homecare in Britain.
Duncan McNeil, committee convenor, said one of his constituents had likened the tendering [...]

Swine flu: it’s time to rein in the doom-mongers
By Paul Roberts
www.caringforyourbusiness.co.uk
 
This is a great time for doom-mongers. The recession – the worst to hit Britain since the 1930s we are told – has provided enough bad news to depress even the greatest optimists in the past six months.

Now, according to the World Health Authority, the [...]