Cardigan News

Campaign to end post code lottery in social care

2:27pm Thursday 2nd September 2010

Independent care providers in Ceredigion are calling for a new vision to end the “post code lottery” and tackle the financial crisis in social care.

The sector’s main representative body says it is “unsustainable” to have 29 different contracts and sets of eligibility criteria for people who need care.

According to Care Forum Wales, the current system is expensively bureaucratic and unfair because the availability and cost of care vary from county to county.

They say a “joined up, value-for-money approach” would help divert scarce resources into frontline residential or domiciliary services.

Care Forum Wales are urging the Welsh Assembly Government to follow the example of the Scottish Parliament and establish a single national approach for determining fees, contracts and eligibility.

Honorary Chief Executive Mario Kreft said: “We definitely need a new vision to bring about a new national approach to social care Wales because it’s quite unsustainable in the current situation.

“We’ve essentially got a post code lottery of social care and I think what people want above all is to know where they stand, what they’re entitled to, how much they have to pay for it.

“At a time like this when we’re facing such challenges on the public purse we really do need to cut any bureaucracy that’s possible.

“It is no longer appropriate that a country as small as Wales has 29 different contracts and 29 sets of eligibility criteria.

“Worse still, the expense of this bureaucracy is starving vital resources form front line services.

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