There's no quick fix for caring
IT’S the kind of news that nobody wants to see – but it’s the kind that appears will be increasingly inevitable as the island’s money problems mount.
The pressures on adult community care services, operated by the States through the Health & Social Care Committee, announced yesterday, might only affect about 60 people. But that will be 60 parents, 60 loved ones, 60 proud islanders still living independently at home, thereby reducing the burden on the taxpayer, while receiving some support to allow them to do so.
HSC says that that none of these people will be put at risk by the changes, which is welcome news, but the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel for domiciliary care feels rather optimistic – that after recruitment problems caused, in part, by Brexit and Covid.
Maybe this is more like the future.
It’s not one that will be at all welcomed, but the wider picture is that HSC tells us that between 50 and 75 islanders are in the wrong place of care at the moment. In hospital when they should be in a home, or at home when they could be receiving greater care, and there are knock-on implications through the care sector, caused by a shortage of capacity all-round, staff and care beds.
It’s more than a problem just for government, and quick fixes seem highly unlikely.