"Many carers live in constant worry about the people they care for which can prevent them from sleeping, being able to get out of the house or stay in work," said Carers UK chief executive, Heléna Herklots. "Telecare and telehealth can play a transformative role in reducing carer stress and give them the peace of mind to take time for themselves, socialise or even enable them to work alongside caring. Yet a lack of advice, information and awareness about how to access telecare and telehealth mean that these potential benefits are not being realised for many."
Carers UK's survey showed that, of those not currently using telecare, 62% were unaware of the technology available to help with caring. Of those who were aware of the services but not using them, a quarter would like to but did not know where to access it. Almost a third (30%) had never been offered it.
Yet one in eight (12%) of carers using telecare/telehealth said that the technology had helped them stay in or return to work.
Meanwhile an FOI audit carried out by the Good Governance Institute (GGI) found significant variations in the number of local authorities delivering telecare services, and the number of people within authorities currently being supported by telecare across England.
According to the audit, only £28m of the additional £648m allocated to local authorities to fund more capacity for home care support, investment in equipment, adaptations and telecare in social care services, went towards funding telecare. Forty three percent of PCTs saw no investment in telecare services for their area, particularly in the South West and East Anglia. The audit also revealed that one in five councils reported receiving no re-ablement funding from their local primary care organisation in 2011/12.
Audit findings also supported evidence that telecare can achieve real cost savings for commissioners of social care through preventing or delaying the need for intensive care packages - Wakefield Council alone reported net savings of £1.3m over a six-month period. Despite this, only one third of the local authorities actually carried out an assessment into the savings delivered by telecare.
"Adult social care services in England are facing unsustainable pressures," said Dr John Bullivant, GGI chairman. "An aging population coupled with fiscal constraints means that new ways of funding and commissioning social care need to be explored and initiated, including the use of telecare services. Despite the government's commitment to increase the uptake of telecare and telehealth, access to these services varies greatly across the country."
Although 80% of local authorities confirmed they had eligibility criteria or assessment processes in place for telecare services, these were found to be inconsistent across the country. Some councils, such as Leicestershire County Council and Walsall Council, confirmed that they had chosen to make telecare universally available, with nearly half of the local authorities that responded saying they had undertaken an assessment of the outcomes delivered by their telecare services.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Helen Olsen
Quelle/Source: UKauthorITy, 08.10.2012
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