Demands for urgent and fundamental reform to care and home help services in England

[This may be important for the context of the next stage of the development of the market for telecare in the UK if services and suppliers play it right. Ed. Steve] In a letter published in The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday a coalition of more than 60 government advisers, charity directors and independent experts said that a lack of political leadership must not be allowed to condemn 800,000 frail pensioners to a life of loneliness. They are asking for ‘urgent’ and ‘fundamental’ reform to care and home help services in England.

Ministers had originally promised to publish detailed plans in response to last year’s Dilnot Commission’s recommendations to cap personal responsibility for care costs. However, a white paper will not now appear for another four months and a decision on the proposal may be even further away after ministers relegated the idea to a ‘progress report’ to be published alongside the main white paper. Elderly ‘robbed of dignity’ by failing social care services Telegraph article with hundreds of comments.