Care cuts leave OAPs in distress

Published on Tuesday 27 January 2009 08:39

ELDERLY people in Edinburgh are being forced to cope with "distressing, degrading and humiliating" conditions because of cuts in council care, according to a damning new report.

A study by Glasgow University, commissioned by the city's ECAS charity, has warned that the city council desperately needs to commit more money to improving its home care service.

Last year, the city council cut visits to at least 1000 vulnerable pensioners from one hour to half an hour in order to save money.

ECAS have claimed that the move has led to an unacceptable level of service.

It also has reports of elderly residents being left for hours after soiling themselves because they are unable to go to the toilet outside of scheduled visits and others being left to survive on microwave meals.

The report's authors, from the Strathclyde Centre for Disability Research, say urgent action is needed to stop the situation getting worse, given that the financial situation is set to worsen once the budget for the next year is announced.

City council insiders, however, insisted today that many of the report's findings had been "discredited" by officials.

The document, updated at the end of last year and partly compiled by distinguished professor of disability studies Nick Watson, puts particular emphasis on toileting arrangements and nutrition concerns. Fears were also raised about cost-cutting and reduced visiting hours.

It reads: "The majority of people in receipt of care at home live on microwaveable ready meals."

"Care providers expressed grave concerns for the nutritional status of individuals consuming convenience food and ready meals on a long-term basis.

"The provision of toileting assistance outside of scheduled visits is another area of concern. This situation is distressing, degrading and humiliating for service-users.

"The reduction of one-hour visits to 30-minutes and the introduction of 15-minute 'pop-ins' and the potential for these to become routine is of great concern as short duration visits do not enable the delivery of meaningful care."

ECAS chief executive David Griffiths said some ECAS volunteers – who are supposed to only offer companionship – had been asked by some under-pressure home helps to administer medicine and heat meals.

Mr Griffiths also pointed to the fact Edinburgh comes 22nd out of the 32 Scottish councils on how much it spends on care.

A council spokeswoman said: "We are in the process of modernising our home care service and are leading the way nationally.

"These are challenging times, with the number of frail elderly on the increase. Accordingly we must target out services where they are needed most."

&#149 www.ecas-edinburgh.org

&#149 www.edinburgh.gov.uk