British Disabled Pensioners Suffer From Lack of Care: Survey

Seventy four percent of British councils are providing lonely and disabled pensioners with incredibly short 15-minute home care visits, pushing old and vulnerable people to make a choice whether to go to the toilet or to be fed.

MOSCOW, December 23 (Sputnik), Ekaterina Blinova — Seventy four percent of British councils are providing lonely and disabled pensioners with incredibly short 15-minute home care visits, pushing old and vulnerable people to make a choice whether to use the assistance to go to the toilet or to be fed, a Freedom of Information survey has found out.

"Fifteen minutes is simply not long enough to deliver quality personal care, and these visits can leave disabled and older people facing impossible choices like whether to go to the toilet or to have a cup of tea, because they simply don’t have time for both," said Peter Jenkins, the director of Leonard Cheshire Disability Campaigns, as quoted by the Telegraph.

Care workers visit pensioners daily or every two days, but incredibly short care slots do not allow them to provide the elderly with appropriate care. Fifteen minutes is not enough to wash, dress and feed a disabled person, care workers point out. However, the study carried out by Unison between August and October, indicated that the number of councils offering pensioners 15-minutes home care visits increased to 74 percent in 2014 from 69 percent in 2013.  In the UK, 90 percent of home care services are currently being provided by private firms and charities.

"What we are seeing is the institutionalization of dangerously low levels of care which compromises the dignity of the elderly and vulnerable people in our community who rely on this care, and places unfair pressures on home-care workers," stressed Dave Prentis, Unison's general secretary, as cited by the Telegraph.

The overwhelming majority of Britons agree with this stance: the Daily Mail cites a Com Res poll, showing that 96 percent of people think that a 15-minute slot is not enough to support old and disabled people.

In response, councils claim that funding cuts have left them with little resources, and that an additional £400 million ($623 million) is needed in order to improve their care service.

The Telegraph notes that the UK leadership has started working with councils "to set standards for the way they buy these services to clamp down on rushed visits and make sure they work with providers that have fair pay and conditions for their staff," citing Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary.