General Election 2015: Will life improve for people receiving home care?

Life isn’t easy for people receiving home care, with many only getting 15 minute visits from a succession of different home care workers, preventing them from building up any kind of relationship.

A recent study by Unison also found that home care workers are increasingly being expected to carry out intimate procedures that would formerly have been done by registered nurses.

Changing catheter bags, peg feeding, stoma care and administering medication are just some of the difficult tasks that home care workers carry out, even though many receive little or no training.

Home care workers are also being forced to cope with an increasing number of people with dementia and mental health problems.

Local authorities operating on reduced budgets means that in the last five years, there has been a drop of 18 per cent in the number of people receiving state funded home care, according to the latest figures from the United Kingdom Homecare Association Ltd (UKHCA).

With the number of people over the age of 65 predicted by the Office of National Statistics to rise by 48 per cent between 2015 and 2035, local authority budgets are set to be stretched even further, especially as the majority of people receiving home care are over the age of 65.

With nearly a million people in the UK currently receiving home care, homecare.co.uk has been looking at how they will be affected by the election.

Conservatives

The Tories have not specifically singled out home care, however they have promised to increase support for full-time unpaid carers and have said they will continue to increase the basic state pension by at least 2.5 per cent through the triple-lock.

Back in March, David Cameron pledged that if he became Prime Minister, no means testing of universal pensioner benefits will take place which in effect means that the winter fuel payment, the bus pass and free TV licence for the over-75s will remain unchanged, promises that were re-endorsed in the Conservative manifesto.

The Conservatives have pledged to freeze council tax too.

A central plank of the manifesto is the integration of health and social care , an additional £8bn over and above inflation by 2020 to the NHS and ensuring that people can see a GP and receive the hospital care they need, seven days a week with a guarantee that everyone over 75 will get a same-day appointment if they need one. Dementia research funding will continue to get high priority.

Labour

Labour has put more emphasis on home care, promising to recruit 5,000 home care workers which would be a ‘new arm of the NHS’ and pledging to end time-limited 15-minute visits, bringing in budgets to encourage improved home care.

They also want to give people the right to be cared for at home, including supporting people to be cared for the end of their life if they wish.

Labour would maintain the triple-lock on the state pension so that pensioners' incomes increase with inflation, earnings or 2.5 per cent, whichever is highest.

Winter fuel payments would be restricted for the richest five per cent of pensioners but there would be no changes to bus passes or TV licences.

For Labour which introduced the National Health Service in 1948, this is very much an election about the future of the NHS and one of the key things it promises is an extra £2.5bn funding for the NHS, in which 20,000 more nurses and 8,000 GPs are budgeted for, as are 5,000 more homecare workers. Labour is promising a guarantee of a GP appointment within 48 hours and cancer test results within a week.

If elected, Labour also plans to appoint a new, independent Commissioner for Older People in England to represent the views of senior citizens.

Liberal Democrats

The Lib Dems would give an annual bonus to carers enabling them to take a break from caring.

Particularly interested in mental health, the party plans not only to integrate health and social care budgets but allow £3.5bn for mental health as well as increasing NHS funding.

Care reform is at the heart of the party’s planned reforms so as well as joining up health and social care, it plans to raise the amount that can be earned by an individual from £100 to £150 a week before they lose the Carer’s Allowance.

Like the other two main parties, the Lib Dems aim to keep the ‘triple lock’ for pension increases and free bus passes for all pensioners, but older people paying the 40 per cent income tax rate will no longer get a winter fuel payment or free TV licence. Also on their list of pledges is an intention to appoint a new cross-government 'Carer's Champion' to ensure carers get a voice at the heart of government.

UKIP

UKIP also wants to get rid of 15 minute home care visits and protect services such as home care, day care centres and meals on wheels. It wants to invest £1bn a year into elderly social care and put £130m a year into funding dementia care.

It wants to use tax profits from fracking to set up a sovereign wealth fund to pay for elderly care and keep the free bus pass, winter fuel allowance, free TV licence and free prescriptions and eye test schemes for all pensioners, without means testing.

Home care workers would be paid for the entire time they are on duty, under UKIP.

Green Party

The Green Party has made the huge promise of free personal and nursing care for all older people.

It would also give free insulation to help fight fuel poverty and make it easier for older people to work if they wish to.

They also want to see a decent basic pension for everyone of £180 a week which would be linked to national earnings. One of the main aims of the Green Party is to ensure that the NHS remains completely publicly run. Consequently, it proposes an increase to the NHS budget of £12bn a year to overcome the current funding crisis, increase investment in mental health care and provide free dentistry, chiropody and prescriptions in England.

SNP

Despite its turbulent history, the Scottish National Party has become a dominant political force in Scotland and the party now wants to win enough Westminster seats to hold sway over the next UK government. Its plans for older people include a back rise in NHS spending across UK of £24bn by 2020-21 and a promise that SNP MPs will vote against further privatisation of NHS in England.

With regard to pensions, it suggests a vote to continue the ‘triple lock’ pension and supports a single-tier pension of £160 per week and a review of plans to increase the state pension age beyond 66.

The SNP Scottish Government already invests in free nursing care for all and will continue to do this as well as supporting the continuation of the bus pass for over 60-year-olds.

Plaid Cymru

Key points of interest for older people in the Plaid Cymru election pledges are to train and recruit 1,000 extra doctors, invest in district nurses in rural areas and oppose NHS privatisation and integrate health and social care. It also supports a ‘Living Pension’ for all pensioners, set at the level of pension credit.